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Security

Application security and cryptography: vulnerabilities, threat modeling, authentication and keeping data private.

90 articles · 2009–2026

2 series touch this section

Filter All cryptography PHP threat modeling WordPress authentication Newest first

2022

Basic cryptography – the Vigenere cipher

Jan 30

The Vigenere cipher is more complicated that the Caesar cipher but based on the same idea. It uses a running key to keep your message secure.

2 min · Series: Basic cryptography, 2 of 3
Different cipher types

Jan 29

Anyone studying cryptography needs to understand various forms of ciphers. Today, we’ll look at three that you should know well.

3 min · cryptography
Hashing is not encryption – redux

Jan 20

Hashing and encryption are two different things, even if they’re built upon the same cryptographic foundation.

3 min · cryptography
Why is it important never to reuse a nonce?

Jan 16

A nonce is an important element in cryptography and keep your data secure. But if you ever reuse a nonce, you’ve lost any hope for secrecy.

2 min · cryptography
Verifying randomness in PHP [Part 2]

Jan 10

How random is random_bytes() in PHP? Are you sure?

2 min · cryptography · PHP
Verifying randomness in PHP [Part 1]

Jan 9

How random is PHP’s random_int() function really?

2 min · cryptography · PHP
Lock picking can make you a better engineer

Jan 7

Learning to use a lock pick changes the way you see security and the way you think about code. It’s a great mental challenge and will help you build stronger, more secure systems.

3 min · threat modeling

2019

WordPress Nonces: Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

Oct 7

WordPress’ implementation of nonces was one of my first encounters with cryptographic protections in software development. It’s too bad WordPress nonces aren’t really nonces in the first place …

3 min · cryptography · WordPress

2018

2017