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THIS FOUNDER BUILT A $40K MRR COMPANY FROM HER FAILED STARTUP

Cecilia Razak's first startup, a tech platform for pet care providers, collapsed due to COVID-19 and communication issues within a large, suddenly remote team.

PLAY FAIR AND WORK HARD

A resilient society is built on principles of fairness and hard work where everyone has the opportunity to participate, take responsibility, and contribute transparently while avoiding shortcuts and monopolistic behavior.

DATA OF NEARLY 2M DOTA 2 DEVELOPER FORUMS USERS LEAKED

Following a 2016 attack, a database containing information of nearly 2M DOTA 2 developer forum users was leaked. The database contains usernames, passwords, email addresses, user identifiers, and IP addresses. The passwords were salted and hashed using MD5. Over 80% of the passwords have been cracked.

ALMOST ALL CITIZENS OF CITY OF EINDHOVEN HAVE THEIR PERSONAL DATA EXPOSED

A data breach last year in Eindhoven exposed the personal information of 221,511 residents, including their citizen service numbers (BSNs). The breach was not disclosed to affected individuals as the municipality deemed the risk of identity theft unlikely and claimed the leak was internal and not accessible to outsiders. The Dutch data protection authority has since placed Eindhoven under stricter supervision due to numerous other breaches.

MERRILL EMPLOYEE EXPOSES WALMART PENSION PLAN MEMBERS

A Merrill employee accidentally exposed the personal data of almost 2,000 Walmart pension plan members through an email error. The exposed information included names and Social Security numbers. The incident led to the offer of identity theft protection services for those affected.

INFILTRATING DEFENSES: ABUSING VMWARE IN MITRE'S CYBER INTRUSION

MITRE reveals through a series of blog posts how the cyber attack on its organization in late 2023 involved exploiting Ivanti zero-days to create rogue virtual machines within MITRE's VMware environment.

PREVENTING BROKEN ACCESS CONTROL IN EXPRESS NODE.JS APPLICATIONS

This post covers the significance of access control in Node.js Express applications, the consequences of compromised access control, and strategies to prevent access control vulnerabilities that can lead to disastrous private data leaks.

FINE-TUNING SEMGREP FOR RUBY SECURITY: PUNDIT AND SQL INJECTION

A blog post that walks through the process of creating custom Semgrep rules to address two common issues in Ruby. The first is an in-depth look at a common footgun that's present in the sanitize_sql function and now to build a rule to detect it. The second is an in-depth look at common issues when utilizing Pundit and building rules for them.

EDRASER

EDRaser is a powerful tool for remotely deleting access logs, Windows event logs, databases, and other files. It can run in automated mode to scan a given IP space and perform a set of deletions or manual mode for more targeted deletion.

AVERLON (PRODUCT LAUNCH)

Averlon enables customers to easily enroll their cloud environments and get an overview of their security risks across all cloud assets, including network access, policies, and software connectivity.

MULTIFORM-VALIDATOR

Multilingual library made for validation, various form fields, such as email, telephone, password, CPF, CNPJ, credit card, magic numbers for image mimetype validation, and much more.

INTRODUCING THE ZAP GRPC ADD-ON

ZAP has introduced a new add-on for testing gRPC. The tool allows for easy encoding, editing, and decoding of Protobuf messages. This blog post includes installation instructions and a feature tutorial.

CRANIM: A TOOLKIT FOR CRYPTOGRAPHIC VISUALIZATION

NCC Group has released the Cranim toolkit that helps create visualizations for cryptography using a math visualization library called Manim. It provides easy-to-use tools for animating cryptographic concepts and code snippets efficiently. The toolkit is designed to be accessible and user-friendly for computer science educators and enthusiasts.

DATA LEAK EXPOSES 500GB OF INDIAN POLICE, MILITARY BIOMETRIC DATA

A massive data leak in India exposed the biometric information of millions during elections. The leaked database contained fingerprints and facial scans of police, military personnel, and civilians. The incident raises concerns about identity theft and election security and highlights the need for stronger data security practices and regulations to protect citizens' privacy.

AVAST Q1-2024 THREAT REPORT

This report dives into the top threats of the first three months of the year.

70% OF CISOS WORRY THEIR ORG IS AT RISK OF A MATERIAL CYBER ATTACK

CISOs are increasingly worried about cyber attacks, with 70% fearing their organization is at risk with Ransomware as the top threat.

GOOGLE FIXES EIGHTH ACTIVELY EXPLOITED CHROME ZERO-DAY THIS YEAR

Google released an emergency update to fix the eighth actively exploited vulnerability in Chrome, tracked as CVE-2024-5274.

THE TOP SERP FEATURES IN 2024

The most prevalent SERP feature in early 2024 is “related search,” which appears in 99% of SERPs, a notable rise from 84% in 2023. Video features have shifted to be more common on smartphones than desktops, indicating changing user behaviors and technological improvements. In terms of share of voice, local packs (places) lead, followed by carousels and Knowledge Graph results, with organic results dropping to 34% overall and 28% on smartphones.

GOOGLE SCRAMBLES TO MANUALLY REMOVE WEIRD AI ANSWERS IN SEARCH

Google's AI Overview product has been generating bizarre responses, prompting the company to manually disable the feature for specific searches. Errors include suggestions to eat glue or rocks. Google maintains that its AI outputs high-quality information, though it acknowledges some errors and is working on improvements.

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE STRATEGIES: (GOOD) FRICTION IS GREAT FOR CX

Certain types of friction in customer experiences can enhance satisfaction and create memorable moments. Good friction, like the anticipation while unwrapping a chocolate or the effort in assembling Ikea furniture, activates dopamine and makes these moments more enjoyable and memorable. To leverage this effect, companies should minimize bad friction while incorporating good friction. This involves evaluating friction points in the customer journey and ensuring that any friction present heightens the contrast with peak positive moments.

72% INCREASE IN 6 MONTHS — WIZ'S WINNING CONTENT INVESTMENT

Wiz, a cybersecurity company, used a broad marketing mix to grow site traffic from 226K in November 2023 to just under 390K as of April 2024 — a 72% increase over just 6 months. The company invests in brand building with a strong visual identity and uses field marketing and paid search to get its identity in front of people. Organic search accounts for 26% of site traffic, bolstered by content marketing on its Wiz Academy subfolder and a strong backlink profile. The brand also uses social selling on X, LinkedIn, and Reddit to drive roughly 25,000 monthly visits.

STEAL MY TEMPLATES: 7 MUST-HAVE ONBOARDING EMAILS

FUNNELYTICS: VISUALIZE AND OPTIMIZE CUSTOMER JOURNEYS

Funnelytics is a tool for businesses and agencies looking to streamline their marketing efforts by mapping customer journeys, measuring performance, and identifying optimization opportunities. The tool pulls data directly from website pages through a tracking script. Plans start at $79 per month and a free trial is available.

5 SECRET CANVA PRO TOOLS

This guide outlines how to use Canva Pro to create transparent shapes, add grain/noise effects, frame pictures, outline with dots, and find overlays.

THE GROWING IMPORTANCE OF SOFTWARE PRODUCT MARKETING MANAGERS

Launching new software products has become increasingly challenging, making the role of PMM essential for successful product launches. Software companies with established PMM functions see higher revenue growth than their peers. PMMs act as translators between product development and GTM teams and navigate the complex path to market acceptance by understanding and priming the market. This article includes a chart that outlines the role and responsibility based on the product development life cycle.

NETFLIX'S AD-SUPPORTED ERA: WHAT'S CHANGING?

Netflix's introduction of ad-supported subscription tiers marks a significant shift in its business strategy that aims to appeal to price-sensitive consumers and diversify its revenue. By partnering with advertising firms and offering cheaper plans, Netflix hopes to attract a broader audience and compete with other streaming services. Netflix plans to innovate in advertising approaches, develop strategic partnerships, and ensure that ad-supported models contribute to long-term sustainability and growth.

AUGMENTED REALITY ENTICES BRANDS WITH ENDLESS OFF-PACKAGE MARKETING SPACE

Augmented reality has become a tempting marketing tool for brands tired of shoppers seeing their products as static offerings on store shelves. Research suggests that these phone-based visual experiences can help drive sales, particularly for smaller brands with a more narrow audience in mind. Depending on the approach, AR campaigns can help shoppers pick between product varieties or even boost shopper loyalty with email capture or special offers.

WHAT THAILAND TAUGHT ME ABOUT MARKETING

The ultimate customer retention boils down to treating them like absolute VIPs, making them feel like part of an insider club, and giving them the tools and support to win big with your product.

LOGO + BRAND GUIDELINE SHARING TIP

Arcade, an interactive demo platform, makes it easier for people to use its logo by giving options to copy or check out its brand guidelines when its logo is right-clicked on.

5 THINGS I'D DO AS CMO

The founder of KlientBoost, a digital performance marketing agency, shares 5 tactics he'd use if hired as a CMO at a B2B SaaS company.

MEDIOCRE ENGINEER'S GUIDE TO HTTPS

The internet operates as a network of interconnected computer networks with a layered structure, where each layer provides specific functionalities. HTTP requests travel through these layers, starting with the sender's request and ending with content rendering on the client's screen. HTTPS is a secure version of HTTP that uses TLS for encryption and verification, where the TLS handshake process establishes a secure connection and generates session keys for encrypted communication between client and server.

HOW PYTHON COMPARES FLOATS AND INTS

Python's comparison of floating-point and integer numbers can lead to unexpected results due to the lack of implicit type promotion and the use of infinite precision integers. CPython, a reference implementation of Python, uses a complex algorithm to compare floats and ints, which involves comparing signs, magnitudes, exponents, and actual values. That's why it's recommended to use library functions for comparing floating-point values to avoid unexpected results.

ABUSING GO'S INFRASTRUCTURE

Arbitrary data, including non-Go code, can be uploaded to Go's checksum database and proxy. This is possible because the checksum database automatically fetches and stores module data if it's not already present. This mechanism can be exploited for malicious purposes, such as bypassing download restrictions, storing malware payloads, or implementing command and control (C2) channels.

RANT: I'M REALLY STARTING TO DESPISE THE INTERNET THESE DAYS, AS A WEB DEVELOPER (REDDIT THREAD)

This author dislikes the current state of the internet due to paywalls on useful articles, outdated StackOverflow answers, automatic pop-ups for login and modals, and cookie consent banners. The constant need to close popups and banners on websites is annoying.

THE DESKILLING OF WEB DEV IS HARMING THE PRODUCT BUT, MORE IMPORTANTLY, IT'S DAMAGING OUR HEALTH – THIS IS WHY BURNOUT HAPPENS

Web devs are experiencing high levels of burnout and churn due to the unrealistic expectation for developers to be experts in multiple specialized fields. Developers are having a hard time keeping up with the pace of change in each area of expertise. Companies are deskilling the industry by pushing for the use of tools like AI to replace skilled developers, leading to lower wages, job insecurity, and worse software.

WRITE CODE THAT YOU CAN UNDERSTAND WHEN YOU GET PAGED AT 2AM

Clever code is difficult to understand. “Clever code” can stem from valuing complex code over readability, premature abstraction, or over-adherence to the DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself) principle. Devs should instead try to write simple code that their future selves can easily understand.

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DATAHERALD

Dataherald is a natural language-to-SQL engine built for question answering over relational data. It allows you to set up an API from your database that can answer questions in plain English.

LO

LO is a simple programming language that targets WASM. It's easy to use and modify and it has very few dependencies.

CLOUDFLARE TOOK DOWN OUR WEBSITE AFTER TRYING TO FORCE US TO PAY 120K$ WITHIN 24H

This author's company was using Cloudflare's Business plan for years when it was suddenly asked to upgrade to Enterprise at a much higher cost within 24 hours or face website takedown. Despite negotiations, Cloudflare purged all of its domains, which caused it significant downtime and loss of customer trust.

TO THE BRAIN, READING COMPUTER CODE IS NOT THE SAME AS READING LANGUAGE

MIT neuroscientists discovered that reading computer code activates the multiple demand network in the brain, a region responsible for complex cognitive tasks, rather than the language-processing areas. This means that understanding code is a distinct cognitive process different from both language and math. Experienced programmers don't rely on language regions for coding tasks.

ASK HN: WHAT IS YOUR CHATGPT CUSTOMIZATION PROMPT? (HACKER NEWS THREAD)

Hacker News commenters share their custom ChatGPT system prompts in order to get better responses for their tasks.

BRAID

Braid is an open working group that is creating algorithms, applications, tools, and standards for interoperable state synchronization.

UDM=14

Google Search without AI overviews.

SRE BOOK CHAPTER 9 - SIMPLICITY

Google's SRE Book prioritizes simplicity in order to make software more reliable.