Monthly Archives: January 2009

AES Encryption Via OpenSSL

If you have ever wanted to encrypt a blob of data for transmission or archival, OpenSSL provides a simple way to accomplish this task without resorting to platform specific tools. To encrypt1: openssl enc -e -aes-256-cbc -in filename -out filename.enc To decrypt: openssl enc -d -aes-256-cbc -in filename.enc -out filename.dec The example above uses AES256 [...]

Announcing Fidgetr

For the past few weeks I have been working on a small coding project and today I am proud to announce its first public release! Fidgetr is a WordPress widget that displays the latest photos from your Flickr photostream in an attractive manner.  It features support for its own themes along with very simple setup and [...]

Crossplatform GPU MD5 Cracking

Today I discovered a crossplatform GPU based MD5 cracker called CUDA Multiforcer. This CUDA-based software works on OS X, Linux, and Windows and allows the user to specify a charset (single byte only at this time, no unicode) as well as n hashes to brute force. In testing on my unibody Macbook Pro I was [...]

Generating a PKCS12 (PFX) Via OpenSSL

Sometimes there are cases when you have a separate private key/certificate pair (perhaps with an intermediate or two) that need to be combined into a single file.  This merge can be performed on the command line using OpenSSL. openssl pkcs12 -export -in my.cer -inkey my.key -out mycert.pfx This is the most basic use case and [...]

New Camera in Hawaii

I recently replaced my Canon Rebel XTi with a 5D Mark II, so I thought I’d share a few shots I got with the new camera while on vacation in Hawaii.  The higher resolution and (much) lower noise has been the biggest advantage at this point, but it helps that I now have two L [...]

OpenSSL Self-Signed CA

Setting up a basic CA for development certificate issuance via OpenSSL is fairly simple, but most of the tutorials available online don’t show every step. This guide attempts to be as clear as possible, but if you spot anything that could use more explanation don’t hesitate to leave a comment. If you don’t have a [...]