Hacking 700 Million Electronic Arts Accounts (19 minute read)
This developer found a vulnerability in EA's authentication system that allowed him to manipulate user accounts. The vulnerability involved exploiting exposed API documentation and a single insecure endpoint. It allowed him to steal usernames and game data, ban accounts, and even bypass game bans. The vulnerability was eventually patched by EA. The scenario highlights the need for more bug bounty programs for popular software.
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Why Code Security Matters - Even in Hardened Environments (12 minute read)
There is an Arbitrary File Write vulnerability in Node.js that can be exploited to gain remote code execution access, even on a read-only filesystem, by using pipe file descriptors in the /proc filesystem. This post explains how attackers can bypass hardened infrastructure measures by using controlled data structures to manipulate event handlers. It also goes over how to protect against this.
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How to become a more effective engineer (26 minute read)
Software engineers need to understand the dynamics of their organization to be successful. Beyond technical skills, they need to develop soft skills, understand implicit organizational hierarchies, and navigate company cultures properly. Embrace messiness, find small wins, and recognize organizational constraints.
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The president's doctor: Why your projects take forever (17 minute read)
Optimizing for “work-unit efficiency” is more important than individual worker efficiency. Work-unit efficiency is the concept of creating the most work in the least amount of time and effort needed. Developers should use a Kanban-based approach to prioritize work-units and reduce waiting periods between work.
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Browser-Use (GitHub Repo)
Browser-Use is an open-source web automation library that allows users to interact with websites using any language model through a simple interface.
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Edge.js (GitHub Repo)
Edge.js is a library that enables in-process execution of .NET and Node.js code on Windows, macOS, and Linux, allowing developers to call .NET functions from Node.js and vice versa.
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State of Python 3.13 Performance: Free-Threading (10 minute read)
Python 3.13 introduces free-threading, an experimental feature that allows CPython to run without the Global Interpreter Lock (GIL), leading to better utilization of multi-core processors. Free-threading significantly improves performance, but it also introduces a performance penalty for other implementations due to the disabling of the specialized adaptive interpreter.
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Why software only moves forward (8 minute read)
Software only moves forward at scale because rollbacks and cut-overs are near impossible due to the nature of data and distributed systems. Data, once stored, cannot be easily removed or altered, meaning software must adapt to handle outdated information. At scale, systems are constantly running multiple versions of code, making it impossible to stop traffic and switch to a new version.
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Blog Writing for Developers (14 minute read)
A good structure for developers writing blogs is: tell them what you'll tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them. This keeps blogs clear and concise, as often developers want to consume just the important information without fluff.
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Thanks for reading,
Priyam Mohanty, Jenny Xu & Ceora Ford
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