Earlier this year Troy Hunt released version 2 of his popular Pwned Passwords API service. The new version comes with even more compromised passwords and a more secure way to query the password API that doesn’t require sending plain text passwords over the network. The API update comes at a good time. When NIST updated its password guidelines in 2016, it included a new recommendation to check “memorized secret… Read More
I travel a lot for both work and pleasure. My mom loves to know where I’m jetsetting off to and I was failing to keep her properly updated. I could share my location via Find my Friends, but that doesn’t solve the problem of upcoming travel events. I could create a shared document or calendar, but she isn’t always in front of a computer. Enter the… Read More
We have a big problem when it comes to password security. People reuse passwords. And they use passwords that are short and easy to guess. This is a problem because even if you don’t care if your Myspace account gets hacked, if you were using the same password there as you are for your email or your bank account, you’re gonna have a bad time. That’s because… Read More
If you’ve ever wanted to create an SMS bot with Scala, you’re in the right place. Perhaps you’re looking for an interactive way to learn Scala or trying to build some automation into your customer interactions. Your SMS bot can be informational or just pure fun. We’ll be building a bot that will respond with your fictional bank balance. In this post, you will learn how… Read More
We’ve all been there – you just need to send an email from your application. Maybe it’s password resets or a product notification. You’re probably reading this because you’ve hit that point. Whatever your use case, this post will walk through how to send an email in code using a plain ol’ Gmail account. I’ll also show you how to fix some common errors you’ll see… Read More
Security is at the top of everyone’s mind and phone verification is a super simple way to secure your application. Confidence in your users’ phone numbers decreases fraud and increases reliability of notifications. Let’s take a look at how to verify phone numbers using Python, Flask, and the Authy Phone Verification API. What you’ll need To code along with this post, you’ll need: A Twilio account An Authy… Read More
It’s functional, it’s object-oriented, it’s everything you never knew you wanted and more! In this post we’ll introduce Scala and give you the tools to build a Scala application that can send text messages using Twilio from the command line. Scala is a JVM language that is notable for its combination of Object Oriented and Functional programming styles. Over the last fifteen years it’s gained popularity with use… Read More
The recession hit while I was in undergrad and my incredibly pragmatic and risk-averse self prioritized finding a job, any job, above all else. Given my business school background I was lucky to land a job on Wall Street, more specifically clearing trades for listed derivatives like Live Cattle. Working on the operations side of the business, employees were rewarded for automating their jobs away. But… Read More