August 2017 Summaries

The text discusses various security conferences held in August, such as DefCon and BlackHat USA, where experts share their knowledge on digital and physical lockpicking, breakout talks featuring security vulnerabilities, and hacking of vote machines. It also mentions the Pwnie Awards, which are given to companies or organizations that have failed to protect their data and users due to overlooked flaws. The text highlights several categories of these awards, including Best Cryptographic Attack, Epic 0wnage, and Best Song. The author then explores how feature flags could potentially help prevent some of the vulnerabilities highlighted in the Pwnie Awards. For instance, using feature flags to turn off a vulnerable feature or encryption option could mitigate risks associated with certain security exploits. The text also emphasizes the importance of iterative development and regular server updates for maintaining system security. Overall, the text underscores the significance of continuous improvement in cybersecurity measures and the role that technology advancements can play in addressing vulnerabilities.

LaunchDarkly recently pursued SOC Type 2 compliance, which had significant impact on their engineering operations and development teams. The process was made easier due to the founding engineering team's experience and philosophy. It is recommended that businesses view certification criteria as benefits of good business practices rather than just a means to sell into certain customers or verticals. Key security principles include least privilege access, limiting data collection, using multi-factor authentication, planning for employee onboarding and offboarding, incorporating account context in logs, building for failure, keeping documentation up to date, and making security part of the company's foundation and culture.

Risk Reduction and Harm Mitigation are crucial in various aspects of life, including DevOps. In the context of software development, Product risk involves problems users experience, while Infrastructure risk is about the inherent fragility of delivering software. Feature flags can be used to control content delivery, manage failovers, and create circuit breakers. Harm reduction focuses on making sure that users have a positive experience even when something goes wrong. Using feature flags allows organizations to segment risks into manageable parts, reducing potential harm and improving the overall user experience.

During their first week at a SOC 2 Compliant startup, new engineers create task tracking and document sharing accounts. They also attend training on maintaining security compliance, which includes creating unique passwords for every service, enabling two-factor authentication, avoiding password sharing, restricting browser plugins, securing laptops with FileVault, limiting connected applications, and ensuring customer data protection. These practices are beneficial even if a business doesn't require SOC 2 certification.

In this text, the author discusses the risks associated with selling user data. The article is part of a series called "To Be Continuous" which appears to focus on various aspects of technology and software development. There are no specific details about what type of user data is being discussed or how it might be sold, but the overall theme suggests that there may be potential dangers involved in this practice.

The text discusses the use of feature flags in managing infrastructure and handling issues in production. It highlights how LaunchDarkly's solutions engineer uses feature flagging to control the release of fixes and new features, as well as manage server load. A proof of concept using Python and RabbitMQ is presented, demonstrating how feature flags can be used to control the percentage of jobs done in a queue. The text also emphasizes the potential for LaunchDarkly's platform to serve as a control panel for managing app operations beyond simple percentage rollouts and canary releases.

The text describes the author's positive experience working at LaunchDarkly, a company specializing in feature management for developers. They emphasize how the use of feature toggles can reduce risks associated with high-velocity release cycles without compromising code quality. The author also highlights their interdisciplinary experience gained through working on Customer Success and learning about SaaS startups' inner workings. Additionally, they mention the company culture and the "Buddy Lunch" program aimed at fostering personal connections among employees. Finally, the author announces their transition to a full-time support role at LaunchDarkly.