DEV Community: ecarrell-df

What’s the Difference between WCF vs Web API?

ecarrell-df — Thu, 26 Sep 2019 15:49:59 +0000

In the fast-paced web development environment, there exist several frameworks and technologies that allow programmers to create HTTP services such as WCF and Web API. However, deciding which platform to utilize in your project can be daunting, considering that many of them often overlap in terms of approach and functionality. In this write-up, we will take an in-depth look at the key features and differences between WCF and Web API to help you choose the technology that aligns with your development needs.

How to Browse the Internet Securely

ecarrell-df — Wed, 25 Sep 2019 15:40:50 +0000

Internet is one of the most used services in the modern era. Starting with the main motive for why every person has used it, to search information about unknown topics in the thousands of websites or online guides that are available, but that's not all, in the internet you can find movies/series, online shops, different ways of social communication methods (like Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, etc) and so much more!

However, for all of that possibilities, your personal information is not 100% secure, because websites never tell the truth of why they're saving your data, but, for those who want to have some online privacy, they will need special browsers or methods like Virtual Private Networks (or best known as VPN)

Is incognito mode is a reliable option?

The world-famous and used web browsers like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and even Internet Edge (an upgraded windows 10 version of Internet Explorer) doesn't have the anonymous browsing that they promise, for example, once you add some data like your number phone, they said that is going to be 100% secure, but that's not the case, because, if your data is stored in an information cloud, any person with some knowledge of programming (hackers) can access to it.

In censored countries like North Korea or Cuba, tends to use the internet (if you're lucky enough to have it) as a way to monitor and even sell the personal information of the population. Seeing this, the web browsers created an option where you can have the anonymous browsing that you want, and they call it "Private Browsing Window" (or best known as Incognito Mode)

In the beginning this method was secure and even in some websites the annoying ads and spam were eradicated, but, over time, the users discover that the only thing that this incognito mode offer is the option of not saving the browsing history and delete the cookies of the websites, they continued to provide the information for the internet providers. So, it's not recommended the use of this method, because, in the end, your data is not even secured.

Using TOR Browser to have some security:

TOR Browser is used for those who want a high level of anonymity, because, they manage to encrypt and route your web traffic and searches with a special network created by the other TOR users. So, in simple words, when you want to search something on the internet, your search queries will be originating from different varieties of IP addresses, and that's it! your search terms can't be localized or identified by any website or internet provider that wants to get your number phone, name or even exact direction of your home.

This method prevents you from falling in the government or internet provider's surveillance, however, this web browser doesn't offer total anonymity of entities that might be actively trying to identify you, but is not like that is going to happen exclusively to you.

Most used option, the Virtual Private Network (VPN)

Probably the most safer and easy-to-use option, in the VPN you're going to decide what type of anonymity you want, protection from hackers and government surveillance red, encrypt and route the web traffic and even change the IP address, it can do that without any problem.

The VPN work in a similar way like the TOR Browser does, when you want to search something on the internet, automatically changes your IP and delete your search traffic at the same time, and you don't have to worry of entities that want to know your information, because your search engine if well protected with the VPN.

However, there are so many options when it comes to select a VPN, but fear not, you only have to know 2 of them the NordVPN and the ExpressVPN, both of them provide all the previously described options.

Sadly, the VPN don't erase your browsing history and the different cookies that are stored in your computer, however, you can do it manually without any major problem.

The anonymity is something necessary on the Internet, but the great social media and website owners don't want that to happen, because they will lose the surveillance that they have on their websites, and unfortunately, the big companies keep developing more and more security problems. But, if you use all the methods at the same time, your information will be totally secure and only you will have access to it.

Should Your Business Website Use HTTPS?

ecarrell-df — Mon, 02 Sep 2019 11:36:52 +0000

Amazingly there are still a lot of websites out there that don’t implement any type of SSL connections. I still run across some e-commerce websites that aren’t even HTTPS compatible (and that’s a big deal!). I see people ask whether the cost and hassle of implementing HTTPS are even worthwhile. Though we certainly won’t pretend to know what’s best for your business, let me give you a few good reasons why running your website with HTTPS is important.

The Party With The Least Tech Pays

If you handle any sort of e-commerce at all, whether it’s selling a product, selling a service, or whatever the case may be, you need to have SSL implemented. There are no two ways about it. If you don’t you could be liable for severe penalties and fees if any sort of fraud happens on your site.

This extends back a few years when the United States started to transfer to chip cards. The transition to EMV enabled cards was long and painful. What ultimately started the push towards that transition was money.

Payment processors decided that when an instance of fraud occurred, the party with the least amount of technology footed the bill. This took pressure away from the banks to cover the cost of fraud, which to that point banks had traditionally bared that burden. This transition meant that if your local coffee shop issued a fraudulent transaction (Eg. Someone stole your credit card and used it at that coffee shop), and that coffee shop didn’t implement newer card readers than that coffee shop was then liable to foot the bill of that fraudulent transaction.

That is setting precedents.

If someone has fraudulent activity appear on their account, and they can prove it’s come from your webstore, or that their information was somehow leaked from your business, you’re going to be liable for it. You can’t depend on the banks to foot the bill for fraud anymore.

Google Search Rankings

We all want our web properties to rank well on Google. If they don’t, your business could take a massive hit. So, many businesses deploy SEO tactics to try and surface higher in search results. An entire industry has been built around tweaking websites for SEO. They keep track of the trends and changes in the major search engines. One of those more recent trends is Google ranking websites better with HTTPS connections.

Google has always been big on promoting security in the tech industry. They have been behind some major movements to change standard practice and force us all to behave better. One of those pushes has been through ranking websites better with an HTTPS connection. The idea is that if a website implements HTTPS, it’s going to be more secure and private for that website’s general audience. This wasn’t a default trend for web admins to implement SSL unless there was a reason why. Since Google has implemented this change to its search ranking algorithm, it has been.

HTTP2

HTTP2 has become all the rage recently. It’s a new addition to the HTTP standard, though it’s largely more of an HTTP 1.2 standard than a true HTTP 2.0 standard.

HTTP2 has the potential to streamline web server operations. It can save on technical debt. It has the potential to load web pages quicker, and most importantly, it’s more secure by default.

The HTTP2 spec itself doesn’t require HTTPS, though a lot of the technologies used behind it implement it. A lot of web properties and shared hosts are making the transition to HTTP2. If your company is going to consider making this switch, it’s worthwhile to implement SSL at the same time. Making your website HTTP2 compliant makes your website more future proof and reduces future operating costs.

Using SSL Is To easy To Implement Not To Use It

SSL was once difficult and expensive to implement and maintain. Web admins needed to purchase a security certificate from a certificate authority. Depending on the type of certificate being purchased, they could be extremely expensive. This process was long and arduous. Proving the validity of a website could be difficult, especially for regular people running their own websites. And many certificate authorities simply had poor reputations.

That’s all changed now. Organizations like Let’s Encrypt make that process free and easy. In fact, if you are capable of launching an Amazon EC2 instance and following directions to make a web server, you can get a security certificate and implement it with ease. Using Let’s Encrypt literally takes only a few minutes and a handful of commands. It’s far easier than building a LAMP stack.

Places like Let’s Encrypt do have their issues. I won’t deny that. They also only offer some of the least secure types of certificates. The reality is, though, that Let’s Encrypt is more than adequate for most website and internet businesses out there.