Separation of concerns of VPS and Docker apps
Introduction I’ve been working on a clean, reusable setup for running my own apps on a Virtual Private Server (VPS), specifically on Hetzner Cloud. The result is three open source repositories that take you all the way from bare metal to running Nginx, WordPress, and Nextcloud behind a proper reverse proxy, with automatic SSL certificates…
Automated secured Hetzner VPS
Introduction A few weeks ago we setup a cool VPS with WordPress, Traefik, etc. in an automated way. The only downside was that is could not be managed with the same code (only setup once), as explained in the post. Today we’re setting up a complete, automated WordPress hosting solution using OpenTofu, cloud-init and Ansible;…
Google’s Cybersecurity AI module
Introduction As promised last week, today I’ll cover the Artificial Intelligence (AI) module that was added to the Google’s Cybersecurity Professional Certificate program. Although it’s a bit basic, this module, being part of a cybersecurity course, got me thinking. I ended up on YouTube, and did some research. I found out that cybersecurity deals/has to…
Google’s Prepare for cybersecurity jobs
Introduction Last course of my Google’s Cybersecurity Professional Certificate adventure. I’ll cover everything except for the AI module. This one will deserve some special attention (next week). As always, I’ll share the cliff notes on the courses as I go. Dense summaries of what actually matters. Today: Put It to Work: Prepare for Cybersecurity Jobs.…
Google’s Python in cybersecurity – Part II
Introduction Continuing the Google’s Cybersecurity Professional Certificate adventure, and more specifically Python in cybersecurity, today part II. As always, I’ll share the cliff notes on the courses as I go. Dense summaries of what actually matters. As said: Automate Cybersecurity Tasks with Python – Part II Continuing where we left off Cybersecurity generates oceans of…
Google’s Python in cybersecurity – Part I
Introduction Another post in the Google’s Cybersecurity Professional Certificate series. As always, I’ll share the cliff notes on the courses as I go. Dense summaries of what actually matters. Today: Automate Cybersecurity Tasks with Python – Part I Python for Cybersecurity The Python course was by far the most comprehensive and quite frankly, also the…
Google’s Detection and Response
Introduction Following up on my Google’s Cybersecurity Professional Certificate quest, I’ll share the cliff notes of the courses as I go through them. Dense summaries of what actually matters. Today: Sound the Alarm: Detection and Response From alert to recovery Security operations center around a four-phase cycle (from the NIST Incident Response Lifecycle): This framework…
Google’s Assets, Threats, and Vulnerabilities
Introduction I’m tackling the Google’s Cybersecurity Professional Certificate and I’ll share cliff notes on the courses I take. Dense summaries of what actually matters. Today Assets, Threats, and Vulnerabilities of this Google security path. Risk, assets and the CIA triad Security starts with three non-negotiable pillars that we’ve covered before: confidentiality, integrity, and availability (the…
7 WordPress plugins I install before the theme
Introduction Forget the “Top 50 Essential Plugins” lists. Most plugins are bloated garbage that slow your site to a crawl. After a decade of debugging sites at 3 AM, I’ve narrowed it down to seven pieces of infrastructure. These handle the invisible work, being speed, security, and not losing data. Akismet Anti-spam by Automattic –…
Google’s Linux and SQL
Introduction Another post in the Google’s Cybersecurity Professional Certificate series. As always, I’ll share the cliff notes on the courses as I go. Dense summaries of what actually matters. Today: Tools of the Trade: Linux and SQL Your first vulnerability Before your OS even loads, you’re already exposed. Computers boot via BIOS (legacy) or UEFI…