The project is split into two parts, one which is this ready-to-use web UI (obviously, useful for testing in the browser), but also a minimal library that can orchestrate the tests and produce a report (with some nice CLI-based reporters too).

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47468398

Points: 2

# Comments: 1

If you're willing / able to sacrifice reversibility, a more orthodox approach can be hash (or *MAC) based. For example, SHA-256(secret + domain-name). However, a key point of this project is attribution, to avoid the need of storing a large set of pre-generated addresses, for portability and for easy reverse aliases.

In terms of the actual SMTP bits, I'm currently relying on Cloudflare workers for receiving and delivering (just a nice and gratis API); however, extensibility within reason is a goal (in scope: provider-agnostic API; very probably not in scope: an SMTP client / server).

The rest of my time goes into a few personal projects, most with no public URL yet.

  * An IndieAuth provider based on WebAuthn, the idea being that instead of relying on delegating authentication, it could be handled directly using, e.g., U2F keys or a device.
  * A temporary e-mail address provider with deterministic addresses for attribution.
  * A self-service menu / ordering service
  * An E2EE document signing solution

   * An HTTP media type negotiator (https://github.com/ApelegHQ/ts-http-media-type-negotiator) -- negotiate based on accept headers. This was because I couldn't find a negotiator that correctly parsed headers.
   * A JS sandbox (https://github.com/ApelegHQ/lot) -- Tried to implement something lightweight yet functional
   * A MIME multipart encoder and decoder (https://github.com/ApelegHQ/ts-multipart-parser) -- Attempt at a lightweight, general and spec-correct parser
   * A lightweight ASN.1 DER encoder (https://github.com/ApelegHQ/ts-asn1-der), meant to be used with its sister project (https://github.com/ApelegHQ/ts-cms-classes) --- Part of the document signing project

    * A web-based self-contained encryption/decryption tool (https://github.com/ApelegHQ/ts-cms-ep-sfx) --- Created to easily share files with maximum compatibility (ZIP archive inside a CMS payload) and minimum requirements.

At the time, it's mostly just a web CV (with some effort put into implementing RDFa and microformats). The intent is adding a blog section too.

Experienced software engineer specialising in backend development with a proven track record. Over ten years of industry experience, delivering exceptional results to drive projects forward.

What sets me apart:

- Broad expertise: Projects and technologies include data integration, Intel SGX, consensus protocols, REST APIs, and web development. Proficient in C, C++, CSS, Docker, ES6+, express.js, Java, JavaScript, Kotlin, LDAP, Linux, Neo4j, nginx, Node.js, PHP, PL/SQL, Postfix, React, TypeScript, Xen, and (X)HTML5, I possess a versatile skill set.

Why choose me:

- Strong problem-solving skills: Thrive on challenging problems, finding creative solutions. Excel in optimizing performance, designing scalable architectures and resolving complex technical issues.

Expertise in Identity and Access Management (IAM), security, and data integration. Deep understanding and practical experience to deliver secure and seamless solutions. Open to exploring new challenges and technologies beyond these areas.

Available for full-time, part-time, and consulting engagements. Let's connect and discuss how I can contribute to your success.

Location: Trøndelag, Norway

Remote: Yes (remote only, unless within Trøndelag or occasional meetups within Scandinavia)

Willing to relocate: No

Résumé/CV: https://riv.ar/curriculum-vitae/

Email: hn-u5cgNWJM（-ａｔ-）protonmail.com

GitHub: https://github.com/corrideat, https://github.com/ApelegHQ

Experienced software engineer specialising in backend development with a proven track record. Over ten years of industry experience, delivering exceptional results to drive projects forward.

What sets me apart:

- Broad expertise: Projects and technologies include data integration, Intel SGX, consensus protocols, REST APIs, and web development. Proficient in C, C++, CSS, Docker, ES6+, express.js, Java, JavaScript, Kotlin, LDAP, Linux, Neo4j, nginx, Node.js, PHP, PL/SQL, Postfix, React, TypeScript, Xen, and (X)HTML5, I possess a versatile skill set.

Why choose me:

- Strong problem-solving skills: Thrive on challenging problems, finding creative solutions. Excel in optimizing performance, designing scalable architectures and resolving complex technical issues.

Expertise in Identity and Access Management (IAM), security, and data integration. Deep understanding and practical experience to deliver secure and seamless solutions. Open to exploring new challenges and technologies beyond these areas.

Available for full-time, part-time, and consulting engagements. Let's connect and discuss how I can contribute to your success.

Location: Trøndelag, Norway

Remote: Yes (remote only, unless within Trøndelag or occasional meetups within Scandinavia)

Willing to relocate: No

Résumé/CV: https://riv.ar/curriculum-vitae/

Email: hn-u5cgNWJM（-ａｔ-）protonmail.com

GitHub: https://github.com/corrideat, https://github.com/ApelegHQ

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41940663

Points: 109

# Comments: 68

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41838561

Points: 18

# Comments: 0

  > Many valuable, high-quality pieces of content that people would find useful never make it into Google's index.

Anecdotally, this observation comes from searching for any term and seeing the results: they are usually similar-looking plausible-looking-but-actually-low-quality results that seem to follow the same or similar structure and have the same content. This does indeed limit the diversity and depth of information, but I'm not so sure it reduces spam, as these low-quality sites seem to be as prevalent as ever before, if not more.

From experience writing articles to a small tech blog, this means that it's quite difficult to get well-researched articles to rank well, even if they're indexed.

For example, I've written an article on how to block hotlinking (I've just checked, and Google says it's indexed). If you search for this, my article on a not-so-well-known blog is nowhere to be found(*)(**), and this is somewhat expected, for a myriad of reasons. The problem isn't that my post doesn't rank, but rather that none of the top-ranking (or even not-so-top-ranking) results are wrong. They are either about how to do this on cPanel or whatever, which is ineffective (but granted, could be what people are looking for), or instructions using the `Referer` header, which is ineffective.

These days, browsers offer headers like `Cross-Origin-Resource-Policy` which can completely solve the particular issue of hotlinking, unlike `Referer` which is easily bypassed using `referrerpolicy="no-referrer"`. However, because most 'authorities' seem to be wrong on this issue, the correct result isn't displayed, because it's a hard problem to solve algorithmically (or even manually).

(*) This doesn't affect just Google, though.

(**) Because it's indexed, adding the right keywords (which you wouldn't do in this case unless you already knew the answer) does bring it up, although from federated high-authority sites instead of the original canonical source.

From the API, I don't see if `createRuntime` allows you to define calls to the host environment (other than for `fetch`). This would be quite a useful feature, especially because you could use it to restrict communication with the outside world in a controlled way, without it being an all-or-nothing proposition.

Likewise, it doesn't seem to support the browser (at least, running a quick check with esm.sh). I think that that could be a useful feature too.

I'll run some tests as I'm curious what the overhead is in this case, but like I said, this sounds like a pretty solid approach.

[1] @exact-realty/lot

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40681605

Points: 3

# Comments: 0

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38033318

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37786352

Points: 2

# Comments: 1

However, it's one of those solutions that look good on paper, but upon close inspection break down entirely or come with rather substantial tradeoffs. Ignore the environmental discussion about energy consumption for a moment, and let's face the reality that computational power is ridiculously inexpensive.

As a thought exercise, imagine you're trying to use PoW to ward off spammers (or the attack du jour), and you decide that a 1-cent expenditure on computation would be a sufficient deterrent. Let's say that renting a server costs $100/month (a bit on the higher end), or 0.004 cents per second.

So, if you wanted a PoW system that would cost the spammer 1 cent, you'd need to come up with a computational task that takes about 250 seconds, or over 4 minutes, to solve. That kind of latency just isn't practical in real-world applications. And that ignores that 1 cent is probably a ridiculously low price for protecting anything valuable.

Of course, you may consider this as an alternative to regular CAPTCHA services. A quick search gives me that this costs something like $3 for 1000 CAPTCHAs solved, or 0.3 cents per CAPTCHA. This changes the above calculation to about 1 minute of compute, which still seems rather unacceptable considering that you might, e.g., drain your users' battery.

So, overall, while I'd like for something like this to work, it probably only acts as a deterrent against attackers not running a full browser and who also aren't targeting you in particular.

The way that it works, at a high level, is similar to how SRP works. Two random salts are generated (let's say, A and B), where A is used for authentication (and hence public) and B is used for deriving the other cryptographic keys.

When you authenticate, you retrieve A and then you prove to the server that you know what scrypt(A, password) is. At this point, the server provides you with B, and you can use this information to derive scrypt(B, password), which in turn you use to derive other cryptographic keys.

It being an oblivious password store, there are other steps taken to make the protocol stateless (from the perspective of the server) and to make parties commit to random values used so that runs of the protocol cannot be replayed.

> but the password database itself is still vulnerable to dictionary attacks once it’s stolen

This is correct, and I'm not sure there are good ways to prevent this or equivalent scenarios from occurring. Therefore, you should see this as an additional layer on top of your already secure password and not as a substitute for a secure password.

The reason for having this mechanism rather than not having it is to protect your password from brute-forcing by the public at large, in a scenario where the server operator is semi-trusted. Without this implementation, you have three alternatives: (1) Forego passwords entirely; (2) make the salted password 'public', along with the salt, which is all the information you need to brute-force it or (3) make more "normal" authentication flows without PAKE, in which case you need to trust the server even more. If you insist on using passwords, this is a compromise solution between (2) and (3), i.e., between anyone can break it and trust the server entirely.

[1] <https://github.com/okTurtles/group-income/blob/e2e-protocol/...>

[2] <https://github.com/okTurtles/group-income/blob/e2e-protocol/...>

But on a broader scale, I don't see what in cryptography makes power inherently more concentrated. Crypto is just a way for enforcing certain trust relations that have already been established or agreed upon. Just like you can use crypto to help centralise power (e.g., allowing you to only run signed applications that can only show signed content), you can use crypto to help decentralise power with tools for confidentially presenting content and allowing you to vet your applications haven't been tampered with.

In both cases the underlying technology has many common components, and what changes is the use you make of it.

Most certainly not, but surely you can build better tools with the aspiration of facilitating certain goals, can't you? It's not the tools in or by themselves that will improve (or worsen) the world, rather something at your disposal to pursue your goals.

> the myth that the computer will lead to a better, more equal society

Agreed that it won't. But, IMO, the strength of Shelter is that it covers a niche that many other systems (blockchain-y or otherwise) don't, which is data autonomy and confidentiality. Most popular web apps today are centralised silos that don't give you privacy from the operator, and those that aim for federation often also don't give you much privacy either.

Now, it can be that those factors are not important for the specific thing you're developing, and that's fine. But, if they are, having an existing framework to build on top of can give you a head start (even indirectly, by showing you what works or doesn't).

Disclaimer: I'm involved in the development of Shelter. All opinions are my own.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36257739

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35895480

Points: 1

# Comments: 0