DEV Community: PHAGUN JAIN

what is Zero Trust?

PHAGUN JAIN — Mon, 29 May 2023 16:53:12 +0000

People who work in the arena of cybersecurity or networking solutions most certainly have come across the terms Zero Trust/Zero Trust Architecture, SASE (Secure Access Service Edge), ZTNA, and other fancy words. Let's discuss what these are.

Origin of Zero Trust

At Google, there was an attack performed by a hacker. During the attack, the hacker gained access to an employee's workstation. After gaining access, the attacker was able to laterally navigate to the organization's critical workloads and set up other malicious activities. This is what is referred to as the problem of implicit trust. Traditionally, in corporate networks or LAN setups, the objective is to create a trusted perimeter where all trusted devices can access resources as they please.

Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) advocates for removing implicit trust completely. Users should only be given access to what they require to perform their tasks and nothing more. This is a significant departure from traditional networking. Although there is no complete or official definition yet, my basic understanding is that anything that talks about perimeters, like in traditional networking, is far from ZTA.

Principles of ZTA

Minimize the trust placed on users.
Verify everything.

Unlike traditional perimeter-based security, where everything inside the perimeter is assumed to be trusted and therefore doesn't need verification, ZTA promotes monitoring and scoping the access to resources.

How is it achieved?

It is a common tendency to adapt old things to fit new trends, and that's exactly what is happening with ZTA. Nowadays, everyone is trying to incorporate the zero-trust methodology. Vendors are attempting to sell traditional security tools like firewalls, VPNs, etc., with additional features labeled as zero trust because it is currently trending. Since this area is still in its early days, it will be interesting to see how things develop and how different vendors implement this concept.

There's no such thing as "zero trust" because there must be some trust for anything to operate. ZT isn't about eliminating trust. It's about controlling it.

What is SASE

Secure access service edge—or SASE is the new concept in field of network and security, where ZT focuses more on the cyber security side, SASE in implemented on top of ZT along with other techniques to completely revamp how networking is done, it bring together different technologies, including secure web gateways, cloud access security brokers, firewalls, and zero-trust network access, into a unified, cloud-delivered service.

some resources for further read:

Virtualization Fundamentals for Containers

PHAGUN JAIN — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 11:10:10 +0000

What is Virtualization?

It is the technique with which the IT person can create the isolated environments such that the process or the group of processes operating within that isolated environment assumes as if it is executing in the real computing infrastructure, this kind of practice leads to more effective use of resources available to the organization along with this the concept of virtualization is the fundamental block upon which the whole cloud computing infrastructure works.

There are several different kinds of virtualization used like:

Hardware Virtualization (most widely known type VMs)
Operating System Virtualization (trending nowadays containers)
Network Virtualization
Storage Virtualization

The Containers work on the concept of Os-level virtualization. Os level virtualization is the kernel's ability to make multiple isolated environments on a single host; These environments encapsulate the programs and hide the true nature of the environment.
Three fundamental components enable OS-level virtualization possible Control Groups, Namespaces, and Unification Filesystem.

Control Groups(Cgroups)

A control group is the mechanism of the Linux kernel that allows the limitation, accounting, and isolation of resources used by a group of processes and their subgroups. It allows the limitation of resources such as memory, disk, I/O, and network usage for a group of processes.
The processes of a container are treated as a whole unit, containers benefit from Cgroups primarily because they allow system resources to limit for processes grouped by a container, also a container may be prioritized for resource allocation.

Namespaces

Another feature of the Linux system, it allows the processes to have restricted visibility of the host system resources. It can limit the visibility of cgroups, hostname, process IDs, etc. To a process running inside a namespaced resource, appear as its dedicated resources.
Namespace isolates processes from one container to prevent modifying the hostname, network interfaces, or mounts for processes running in other containers.

Unification Filesystem

This feature allows the overlay of the multiple filesystems to produce a single mock filesystem. The contents of different filesystems are virtually stacked, and their contents appear to be in a single filesystem, although, physically, they remain separate.
unionfs is used in containers to overlay a base container image with other writable layers. Storage layers such as ephemeral storage layers, custom storage layers, config layers are stacked. unionfs uses the mechanism called copy-on-write (cow) to modify the files in a running container cow strategy lets users indirectly change the content of files available to the running container from the base container image. Container image files are read-only, when a user attempts to modify such files the base image file is copied into the ephemeral storage layer of the container, a user is allowed to make changes to this new copy while the base container image files remain untouched.

Here are some great resources for further read:

Understanding OTT(over the top) technology

PHAGUN JAIN — Sun, 17 Oct 2021 13:35:06 +0000

We all witnessed how the consumption of online content has drastically increased in the last few years, although it is happening around the globe there are multiple factors that catalyzed this trend in India, and that are yes very cheap internet provided by Jio and affordable Chinese smartphones also among all the devices available mobile devices are the major medium of content consumption, another major reason was the global pandemic which forced everyone to stay at homes and reduced the sources of entertainment, eventually people started to try out other sources of entertainment like Hotstar, Netflix and many more.

But among all these sudden changes something is missing and that is the actual technology that made all this possible and i.e. OTT video streaming.

Overview of OTT

OTT (over the top) (originally used for devices such as Apple TV which uses the internet to stream the content), refers to the distribution of video content over the internet, bypassing traditional linear or pay-TV services to bring content directly to end-user on their internet-connected devices—their phones, smart TVs, and others

even though OTT has been there before but it's now becoming more popular as a media thing.
There are few terms associated with OTT and there are OTT Devices, OTT Services, OTT Platforms, and OTT Apps.

OTT Devices

These are any device which can bypass traditional methods and connect to the internet such as smartphones, smart TV's

OTT Services

These are the content providers such as Netflix, Disney Plus Hotstar that anyone can watch anytime, anywhere they want

OTT Apps

These applications are built according to the hardware specification of the device and act as the medium that makes all things work as the apps make it possible to consume content on devices provided by the content providers

OTT Platforms

These are the companies that provide a platform using which anyone can launch their own app for OTT such as uscreen OTT platform for their viewers to watch

Benefits of OTT

Apart from the features like:

on-demand consumption,
high-quality experience,
increased options to choose from.

OTT is much more than that and that is the reason big media houses are investing in the space, that less understood corner is the business side of OTT space.

OTT Apps utilities the machine learning models to identify the consumer's online behaviors and activities in identifying the demand in the market and based on these insights big players can decide what content to buy and what not for placing on the app, also the OTT Ads works in a similar fashion which makes use of AI&ML to gather the data and identify the needs of the consumer and based on the needs the ads are placed such that it aligns with the interest of the viewer leading to enriched experience for the user and better strategy for the business owners campaign

Also, it is not that OTT is only for big players many new media houses and individuals are rising with the increased popularity which is heading to the establishment of business for content providers where they can provide content to the audience for consumption on their own pace.

The Future

OTT does seem very interesting and it does have disrupted the traditional TV and entertainment industry, as during the Lockdown period many films that were supposed to be released on big screens either stopped or moved to the services such as Netflix, Hotstar, etc and the proved to be an absolute hit for the business of those movies.

It is already visible that many people have started to cancel their cable TV subscription since none watches it anymore.
also, there is some work going on in VR with the OTT area which is very fascinating, VR in itself is very exciting, and being able to stream it will open up a whole new space of both opportunities and experience.
if you are interested in VR and OTT do read this pwc-vr-ott forecast

Tcp, Udp, Http

PHAGUN JAIN — Fri, 25 Jun 2021 08:36:47 +0000

Many times while learning about web applications and application architecture, it is common to get across some basic concepts related to computer networks, I got across the terms "TCP/UDP" "HTTP/HTTPS" "SSL/tls" quite a lot and realized that I don't understand these terms correctly, so as a result of re-learning those terms related to networking am writing this post this is more of a revision note for myself :}

Introduction

before starting it will be great to mention about OSI model
OSI model is a set of standardized rules that specifies the communication functions of a computer networking system. This model divides the transfer process of data from one computer to another into 7 layers tasks, such that each layer serves to the next layer of completing the required task.

Layer Architecture

Layer 1: Physical Layer
Layer 2: Data Link Layer
Layer 3: Network Layer
Layer 4: Transport Layer
Layer 5: Session Layer
Layer 6: Presentation Layer
Layer 7: Application Layer

not going in the depth

now, before going to protocols, one doubt I got was:

why are there two protocols like HTTP, and TCP/UDP

And these are mentioned quite often, I was confused after some reading online I realized HTTP and TCP are not alternatives, These protocols work in two different layers. HTTP needs some transport layer protocol.

what is HTTP?

HTTP is a Hypertext Transfer Protocol. It works in layer seven or the application layer and it fetches resources such as HTML documents. It is used for exchanging data on the Web and is a client-server protocol which means requests are initiated by the recipient usually the Web browser.
HTTP clients generally use Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connection to communicate with servers.

what is TCP?

TCP is Transmission Control Protocol. It works in layer four or transport layer it states a connection is established and maintained until the application data at each end have finished exchange. TCP breaks application data into packets. This packet delivers to the transport layer.

Where TCP ensures that all the packets are received by re-transmitting any defected or lost packets sometimes this is not required. Then udp comes in to picture it does not re-transmit the dropped packets thus ensuring fast delivery hence when the requirement is of fast delivery rather than of ensuring everything is delivered UDP is preferred.

that's it thanks for reading :)

Why is it important to create a default constructor explicitly when we create a parametrized constructor explicitly??

PHAGUN JAIN — Fri, 19 Feb 2021 08:28:32 +0000

java implicitly creates a default constructor for us in a class, but only if we have not created any parametrized constructor in that particular class, however it is not important to declare a default constructor if there is no use of it in the implementation i.e, if we are providing parameters for each object created for example: the following program does not call default constructor

OUTPUT:

but when we inherit a super class to create some sub class we should keep in mind that every subclass calls super class constructor first, therefore we need to define a default constructor in super class, but if we explicitly call parametrized constructor of super class in the subclass then also there is no need for creating default constructor in super class

here is another example :

OUTPUT:

Sources

Error: Could not find or load main class

PHAGUN JAIN — Sat, 06 Feb 2021 15:22:25 +0000

While trying to execute java code via command-line you may have encountered the above error quite commonly (if you declare your class as a part of some package)

What is package?

Packages are containers for classes that are used to keep the class name space compartmentalized. For example, a package allows you to create a class named List, which you can store in your own package without concern that it will collide with some other class named List stored elsewhere.

Finding packages

How does the Java run-time system know where to look for packages that you create?
The answer has three parts. First, by default, the Java run-time system uses the current working directory as its starting point. Thus, if your package is in a subdirectory of the current directory, it will be found. Second, you can specify a directory path or paths by setting the CLASSPATH environmental variable. Third, you can use the -classpath option with java and javac to specify the path to your classes.
In this read I will focus on the most easiest way, i.e. first one

The Demonstration :-

1> Checkin into your development directory in my case this is
C:\Users\omgill\Desktop\Java
2> The easiest way is to simply create your package directory below your development folder.

3> Now put your .java file into the package directory complie the code .
CAUTION: make sure that all the .class files are placed in the right folder/directory.

4> Then execute the class using the command:
java .

and that's that. :)

How to setup java in windows 10

PHAGUN JAIN — Fri, 15 Jan 2021 08:34:02 +0000

Recently i was installing JDK on my system, and i did everything from downloading jdk, jre and setting environment variables but when i went to run java code with the command "java MyProg" Error occurred saying something like "JNI error check your installation and try again" so I went on some online research and below is what i found: -->

JRE(JAVA Runtime Environment):it provides us with minimum stuff required for execution of java application/program, NOTE that it is helpful only in execution, We cannot compile or create byte code with it for that you need jdk.

JDK(JAVA Development Kit): it provides us with everything we need for developing java applications/programs, using jdk we can create byte code as it contains javac
during the online surfing I also came to know that for the versions of jdk older than jdk-11 we used to have JRE folder separately but in JDK-11 we don't need that as JRE is the part of JDK-11 link to source
also before doing anything understand the need means, if you are a developer who writes code you need to have compiler, runtime environment and other stuff but if you are a client or just want to run certain application then only thing you require is JRE that's it source

so if you want to install jdk

goto this website.
download the JDK
unzip the folder in downloads
setup the environment variable
enjoy : )

Here is the step-by-step guide.

i struggled with this for two days so i thought it is worth sharing!

New Path Taken!

PHAGUN JAIN — Sun, 15 Nov 2020 06:21:54 +0000

I was trying to spare time for this challenge for long time but never made it, then i realized its now or never so, I'm publicly committing to the 100DaysOfCode Challenge starting today!

will code for at least an hour every day for the next 100 days.
will tweet about my progress every day -> using the hashtag #100DaysOfCode also post on dev for more accountability
will push code to GitHub every day so that anyone can see my progress.
will update the (Log)with the day's progress and provide a link so that others can see my progress.

MY Hacktoberfest Experience

PHAGUN JAIN — Thu, 29 Oct 2020 13:31:42 +0000

[My first ever Contribution]

Hi Everyone! I am a 2nd-year student pursuing computer science, my name is Phagun, for about a year. I was struggling on how to get started with open source contributions, all I was doing is searching and more searching but could not find the right project, this hacktoberfest thingy helped me in making my first contribution as many beginners friendly projects came out in which I could contribute with my little experience.

Background

I got to know about this event organized by @DigitalOcean around the 11th of October, I was not very positive about the event but registered myself anyway.

Progress

I am not a hardcore coder but I know front-end quite well so I contributed to various front-end projects or minor c++ code patches.
and I have finally completed this year's challenge, next time I will try to contribute to some major projects too

Reflections

This was my first time participating in this event and it helped me a lot, I would love to do it again.