Hugo Slabbert

I'm starting to dip my toes into more home automation with Home Assistant and ESPHome, especially around some projects for PEACE. One specific project called for a default delay or timeout on an action, but also permitting user overrides on that timer. The key was also to do the logic and control on the ESPHome device as much as possible. I found one existing approach for this at Dynamic timers in ESPHome, but that gets into quite a bit of interconnect lambda as well as doing a countdown (well, count up?) on a repeating 1-second tick on a timer. On reading through the ESPHome Time Component and Datetime Component, though, it seemed like there might be what looks like a much simpler option. It turns out it works!…

We're coming through what is seeming like a tipping point in the history of DDoS on the Internet. Rather than targeting a company or online gaming, one of the largest DDoS attacks ever targeted an individual, Brian Krebs, most likely for his work exposing a so-called "booter service", a DDoS-for-hire outfit called vDOS, which ultimately led to the alleged proprietors being arrested…

I'll be writing a bit more about DDoS attacks and security, and so I thought it would be handy to jot down some commonly used terms in one place. I'll also look at how some of those terms are interrelated…

Recently, we're seeing an uptick in GRE traffic as part of a DDoS mix. Most prominently, GRE featured as the biggest volume contributor in the record 600+ Gbps attack on krebsonsecurity.com. (Note that the site is currently offline as it's finding a new home, so any links to krebsonsecurity.com will reference The Internet Archive instead.)…