Founding member of cyberstorm.mu | Creator of tunnelix.com | Devops Engineer | Hacker at IETF Hackathon | AMBCS | VCA & VCP | Love and Believe in OpenSource
Who is Dr. Till Jaeger? – Till Jaeger has been a partner at JBB Rechtsanwälte since 2001. He advises large and medium-sized IT businesses as well as government authorities and software developers on matters involving contracts, licensing and online use. Till Jaeger also covers conventional areas of copyright law and entertainment law, advising corporate clients on matters relating to open content, web design and photography. – Source:JBB.DE
Some pictures during the informal event:
OpenSource licensing with Dr. Till Jaeger and cyberstorm.mu
I should admit that it was really an informal meeting over some beers, juice, Dame-Blanche, and Pizzas with Dr. Till Jaeger. It was very fruitful and amazing to the team. We received lots of advice for ourselves as well as for the cyberstorm.mu team. Some days back, the National Computer Board conducted a workshop on Opensource licensing which where Dr. Till Jaeger was the main resource person to deliver this workshop. Thanks to the National Computer Board for making this event a success. Cyberstorm.mu members were also invited to the event.
We have also welcomed Rahul Golam for joining cyberstorm.mu team and looking forward to work together. I seized this opportunity to announce that cyberstorm.mu is proud to announce it’s the official logo. Thanks to the hard work of the team.
The cyberstorm.mu team has been participating in several IETF hackathons these recent years. For the IETF 102 hackathon, we focused tremendously on innovation: The goal to create two teams for the TLS 1.3 project, one for the Implementation team and the other is Interop. At the same time, getting hands on the HTTP 451 project. The IETF hackathon encourages developers to collaborate and develop utilities, ideas, sample code and solutions that show practical implementations of IETF standards. It is not a competition but a collaborative event.
For this IETF hackathon, myself and Loganaden Velvindron core members of cyberstorm.mu team decided to lead the event. We searched a marvelous venue at Pointe aux Piments, a remote coastal area in the north-west of Mauritius which was very peaceful and can accommodate the whole team including first-timers of the IETF hackathon for three nights. As regards food, the best place is at Triolet, a village nearby which is famous for street foods including Pizza, Indian food, Grilled, Burgers and Brianis. We also chose that venue as it included a WiFi hotspot, several rooms, bathrooms, and even a swimming pool.
On day 1, we all set up our lab environments and since most first-timers were in the TLS 1.3 Interoperability team, a plan was already designed. We knew since the beginning that there would be the logistic issues, so we brought spare laptops, screens, memory card, projector, etc.. Logan explained the situation we had to deal with especially when it comes to interoperability to the first-timers. Then, they assigned themselves some tasks. At first, it was time-consuming to get started, but at the end of day1, I can feel how everyone was working as a team and looking in the same direction for the TLS 1.3. On the other hand, Veegish was getting hands-on HTTP 451. Whilst the Interoperability team was having fun, the implementation team, on the other hand, was yet another challenge: Improving source code for TLS 1.3 compat layer.
On day 2, everyone woke up early and went for a morning walk. Afterward, the team was back to coding and debugging. Whilst some were on the implementation and Interoperability tasks, Veegish already advanced on the HTTP 451 project. A debrief carried out by logan to understand where the team stands. We had to constantly evaluate ourselves so that we knew in which direction we are moving. At the end of the day, most of us were already in the pool for some chilling moments. I seized the opportunity to make a Time Lapse video with my iPhone 7+ 🙂
On day 3, the atmosphere was intense. The implementation team needs to make sure the code has been tested and it is running correctly. I was heavily involved in the PHP CURL library part. The testing part was very challenging. At some moment I was so tired and hopeless as the testing part was really complex. At the same time, others were trying to help each other. Kifah was also on some bash scripting for the interoperability part. He wanted to automate some tasks. Logan was also looking at his code and helping the others. Well, at the end of the day we were so happy to be able to accomplish what we had planned. Everyone looked so tired. The only option is to go back to the pool.
We also decided to make some mini videoS to relate our experience during the hackathon. I uploaded the videos on YouTube. You can view it from the playlist below:
On day 4, we packed up to our destination. At that very moment in Montreal, the hackathon was still going on. I reached home at about 19:00 hrs Mauritius time. I was assigned a three minutes presentation for the hackathon carried out by the Mauritius team. It was already midnight. I was so tired. I knew that the presentation had to be carried out. Logan was constantly texting me to make sure that I did not fall asleep. You can view the presentation remotely live in Montreal Canada.
What did IETF hackers say about the IETF 102 hackathon?
“What I think was the most productive output during this time for me was pair-programming…”– Kifah
“I was very excited to be part of the Inter-operability team where I worked with OpenSSL, BoringSSL, WolfSSL, and tlslite using TLS1.3 protocols.”– Jagveer
“Making Internet Protocols great again during the IETF 102 hackathon” – Logan
“Finally after long hours of debugging he managed to test the protocol being used by NRPE locally”– Rahul
“Then… we finally got a Client Hello from Wireshark and made the PR”– Nigel
“At first I thought that it would only be working, working and working but besides of work we started creating bonds.” – Jeremie
“I got a lot of advice, support, and motivation to work with my team members and try to implement on a strategic basis and critical thinking the internet protocols and see their limit on a technical perspective.” – Avishai
“Once OpenSSL was installed, I then performed my first TLS 1.3 Handshake, Resumption, and 0-RTT but did run into difficulties with NSS.”– Chromico
“But while everyone is waiting, we are working. We have reached a deeper understanding of how it will affect our lives.”– Codarren
“IETF 102 was a very fun and challenging experience in which I got to work on several opensource projects” – Muzaffar
“At first, I did encounter some issues like parsing JSON files, but I manage to work on those issues”– Veegish
We also had a follower on Twitter appreciating our effort and participation during the IETF 102 hackathon. Thanks, Dan York, senior manager at ISOC.
I’m happy that this hackathon was at the required level. It was a great initiative from the cyberstorm.mu team. No major incidents occurred in our HQ at Pointe aux Piments. Everything that was planned went all and it’s worth investing yourself in this collaborative event.
If you do not want your messages to fall into the wrong hands especially when using free public wiki hotspot, one of the best way to secure your Android / Iphone key board is to install the “Secure Text Keyboard” app on your mobile phone. Designed by nuovalabs it will protect your privacy, this app is really easy to use and very practical.
“When we talk about security, it means different ways to protect ourselves or things that belong to us, whether it is data, money or rather anything. While privacy is about our ability to control access to our personal information and activities. Security is the first level of defence against unwanted intruders while privacy is about having the freedom to conceal ourselves from the outside world. Security is a necessary tool to build privacy, but a communication channel can be very secure, yet total ly unprivate.”– NuovaLabs.com
Getting started with Secure Text Edit
1.Download the Secure Text Edit app. You should find an interface similar like this.
3. Now, the “Share your key” option will generate a link which you can use to share to the person receiving the message.
4. The receiver will now use it to decrypt the messages you are sending each time.
5. Choose your input method type from the Notification menu and select select Secure Text Keyboard.
6. Start typing on your new keyboard, the message will appear in an encrypted format and can be sent to your recipient. It applies on Facebook, Viber, SMS etc..
This type of security system usually prevents yourself from a Man in the Middle attack. However, it should be noted that not all security systems are 100% secure. However, you can minimise the risk of having an attacker to exploit your mobile phone text messages.
Phone calls and SMS privacy are now possible with Signal. What is ‘Signal‘? “Signal has been designed for the mobile environment from the ground up. Messages and incoming calls are fully asynchronous; push notifications to let you know when new messages have arrived, so they’ll be waiting for you if the app is in the background, your battery dies, or you temporarily lose service.” – WhisperSystems
Photo credits: Mike Williamson
It is believed that the Government of Mauritius and other government entities around the world have been tapping into phone lines since a while and some years back this issue has also been revealed on Mauritian newspapers. So, how do you get away from these entities trying to peak their noes into your private life? The ultimate answer is “Signal” which has been developed by the Open Whisper Systems Team.
“Use anything by Open Whisper Systems” – Edward Snowden, whistleblower, and privacy advocate
“I am regularly impressed with the thought and care put into both the security and the usability of this app. It’s my first choice for an encrypted conversation.” – Bruce Schneier, internationally renowned security technologist.
The signal is freely available and compatible for almost all Android devices as well as Apple mobile phones. It supports SMS and voice calls encryption even if you are on a 3G/4G network. However, you need to assure yourself that all parties engaged in a conversation are using Signal to be secure on all sides.
You cannot assure yourself to be secure if encrypted communication is one-sided.
My next article is going to be dedicated to the cyberstorm.mu team of Mauritius.
