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Category Archives: Javascript

Slopegraphs in Python – Experimental Raphaël Support

In preparation for the upcoming 1.0 release and with the hopes of laying a foundation for more interactive slopegraphs, I threw together some rudimentary output support over lunch today for Raphaël, which means that all you have to do is generate a new slopegraph with the “js” output type and include the salient portions of the generated html/css/javascript into a web page (along with including the Raphaël script code).

The next github push will have this update. Here’s an example of the output, using the classic Tufte example chart:


It’s definitely a bit rough around the edges (my eyes immediately fixate upon spacing discrepancies) and lacking any interactivity, but the basic building blocks are in place. It also does not render on my Android phone (HTC Incredible 2) but it does render in Chrome, Safari & on my iPad. Embedding a Raphaël graphic in a web page will definitely have advantages over a PNG or PDF in most situations even if it’s not interactive, so I’ll probably keep the support in regardless of whether I continue to improve upon it.

As I was playing with the code, I kept thinking how neat it would be if there was a Raphaël Cairo “surface” option. Perhaps that will be a side project if all goes well, since it would not be that much more complicated (in fact, it may be less complicated) than the Cairo SVG surface code.

DNSChanger Detector

The FBI made a tool to help you determine if you were a victim of the DNSChanger malware.

If you’re like many casual Internet users, you have no idea how to get the information to plug into the input box.

Unfortunately, the security model of most modern browsers makes it impossible to easily retrieve this information. However, it is possible to grab the DNS entries if the user is willing to trust the requesting source.

To help make it easier to determine if you’re infected, I wrote DNSChanger Detector. It’s a small Java applet that requires the user to allow it to have privileged access to the DNS entries via a call to sun.net.dns.ResolverConfiguration to get the nameservers. Once it has them, there is some jQuery glue in place to let Javascript access the results.

I understand why the FBI didn’t attempt to go this route, but it will hopefully be useful to folks who don’t wish to walk their friends and family through the process.

Quick Hits :: 2011-02-09

Security

  • VSR uses some high-ish profile attacks from 2010 to provide fodder for the VAR community :: Security Risk: Top Hacker Attacks of 2010. I include it as the examples they provide should make it easier for folks doing presentations where they need to show real-life attacks (without sifting through the individual entries at the various data breach web site databases). [Vertical Systems Reseller]

Windows

  • Windows 7/2008 SP1 looms large. OEMs, VLCs & MSDN/TechNet subscribers get it on February 16th and the rest of the masses can give it a go on February 22nd. It looks like it has a decidedly enterprise-y focus, but one can hope it continues Microsoft on the path to robust desktop & server experiences :: Announcing The Availability of Windows 7 and Windows Server R2 SP1 [Microsoft]
  • Autoruns – the ability to automatically perform tasks when certain devices are made available to Window systems (e.g. USB sticks) – are a boon to malware writers. While Microsoft has somewhat mitigated the threat they pose in more modern versions of their operating systems, it can be tricky to make older systems safe. With the latest round of Patch Tuesday updates, they included a way to disable Autoruns in older systems. W00t! Microsoft Update Offers an Easier Way to Turn off Autoruns [PC World]
  • Succinct and informative article by Chris Sanders on how to determine if your systems is being actively compromised. Chock full of screen shots and examples of what to look for. While not exactly aimed at the general Windows community, it does provide a solid introduction to core tools that technically-inclined users should make room for in their toolboxes :: http://www.windowsecurity.com/articles/Determining-You-Actively-Being-Compromised.html [WindowsSecurity.com]

Programming

  • Pageforest helps you ship complete web applications without having to write any server-side code. You can build your application using HTML[5], CSS & javascript and the Pageforest service provides application hosting, user authentication & data storage. You only use client-side javascript and are free to include jQuery, Prototype or any other frameworks that you need to include in your app. Hosting is currently free and the site includes a full IDE to help you get started coding :: A Pure JavaScript Web Application Platform [pageforest.com]

Quick Hits :: 2011-01-07

Security

Programming

Interesting points/counterpoints on the efficacy of Node.js being tied so closely to the V8 javascript engine:

HTML5

AwesomeChartJS Meets Microsoft Security Bulletins

I wanted to play with the AwesomeChartJS library and figured an interesting way to do that was to use it to track Microsoft Security Bulletins this year. While I was drawn in by just how simple it is to craft basic charts, that simplicity really only makes it useful for simple data sets. So, while I’ve produced three diferent views of Microsoft Security Bulletins for 2011 (to-date, and in advance of February’s Patch Tuesday), it would not be a good choice to do a running comparison between past years and 20111 (per-month).  The authors self-admit that there are [deliberate] limitations and point folks to the most excellent flot library for more sophisticated analytics (which I may feature in March).

The library itself only works within an HTML5 environment (one of the reasons I chose it) and uses a separate <canvas> element to house each chart. After loading up the library iself in a script tag:

<script src="/b/js/AwesomeChartJS/awesomechart.js" type="application/javascript">

(which is ~32K un-minified) you then declare a canvas element:

<canvas id="canvas1" width="400" height="300"></canvas>


and use some pretty straighforward javascript (no dependency on jQuery or other large frameworks) to do the drawing:

var mychart = new AwesomeChart('canvas1');
mychart.title = "Microsoft Security Bulletins Raw Count By Month - 2011";
mychart.data = [2, 12];
mychart.colors = ["#0000FF","#0000FF"];
mychart.labels = ["January", "February"];
mychart.draw();

It’s definitely worth a look if you have simple charting needs.

Regrettably, it looks like February is going to be a busy month for Windows administrators.

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