2021-03-26 -  This post is something of a development diary for Backutil - my Python-based utility for backing up files from Windows systems. I published the first version of Backutil (v0.51) at the beginning of 2021, and pushed a small update (v0.52) to fix so...

2021-01-01 -  Back in the spring, I decided that 2020 would be the year I would finally see a coding project through to completion. A recent work project shone a light on backup and recovery, and I realised that I should probably be a bit more consistent with m...

2020-12-22 -  One of the few upsides of the whole 2020 situation is that I’ve had a lot more time to read. Periods that I would usually have spent commuting, out with friends, or cramming in chores between getting home and going to bed became downtime that I co...

2020-11-20 -  My first Amazon Web Services (AWS) basics post covered the process of setting up a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) and a Windows Server 2019 EC2 instance. This time we’re going to build on this simple setup by deploying a Amazon Aurora SQL database an...

2020-11-15 -  Having worked on serveral projects involving Amazon Web Services (AWS) recently, but always at arm’s length, I decided to get a bit more hands-on. At worst this would give me a more practical grounding in managing cloud instances, and at best it w...

2020-09-12 -  I recently took part in a DFIR capture the flag with some colleagues. Participants were provided with a system disk image and asked to mount it and complete a number of challenges to discover various flags hidden within the data. Exercises like th...

2020-09-02 -  The problem with taking leave during a pandemic is that there are very few places you can go that don’t present an unnecessary risk. For me at least, the thought of taking a plane abroad wasn’t appealing, and neither were the Tube journeys that wo...

2020-07-17 -  What started as curiosity has turned into something of a labour of love. Online information about the Technicolor TG582n router’s event logging capabilities is scarce, and scattered across a number of forums. I’ve used that information along with ...

2020-07-03 -  You may have noticed that things have changed around here - I built a new website, following the ethos that it should be as clear, lightweight, and fast as possible while respecting visitors’ privacy by keeping outside scripts and tracking to a mi...

2020-05-02 -