Coldfusion Monkeys

I found it incredulous that when I searched for “monkey” in Google, not only is http://www.remotesynthesis.com on the 1st page, but it has two *different* links on the 1st page! I realized I was signed into Google+. I signed out and re-searched. The site is no where in the top 10 pages (though www.codinghorror.com is somehow on page 8?).

I am not sure how Google is deciding this. I have “remember web history” turned off on my Google account. Could it be using the information from my contacts in Google+ circles? Many of the people are Coldfusion people. Its the only thing I can think of, unless Google is breaking the rules and using my web history anyway. Anyone have any ideas on this?

Google you try hard, but personalizing my search for funny monkey photos by filtering on Coldfusion? That just isn’t smart. Some things do go together -like chocolate and peanutbutter- but Coldfusion and monkeys do not. …Prove me wrong people, prove me wrong!

Re: Coldfusion Strong Encryption: 256bit and higher

Original Article

I’ve put together what I believe is the Java equivalent of CF’s GenerateSecretKey, Encrypt, and Decrypt functions. Unfortunately these encrypt and decrypt functions still do not work in CF7 so there must be something else besides the US_export_policy.jar & local_policy.jar files that would need to be upgraded in order to allow for strong encryption to work in CF7.

I’ve posted the code below in hopes that someone will tell me I’ve made a mistake and that we could get this to work in CF7.

The code is based on this article from Sun.

UPDATE: Per Jason Dean’s comment: for this to work in CF7 you need to use a different library. The strong encryption library for CF7 can be downloaded here.

Coldfusion Strong Encryption: 256bit and higher

This does not get enough attention.

Out of the box Coldfusion does not have strong encryption and will not generate keys higher than 128 bits. You must upgrade the underlying Java library in order to gain access to strong encryption. Currently the Java Cryptography Extension (JCE) Unlimited Strength Jurisdiction Policy Files 6 download is located here. Download the file, decompress it, and then replace the existing US_export_policy.jar & local_policy.jar files from your Coldfusion install with the ones that you’ve just downloaded. After restarting Coldfusion you will be able to use the GenerateSecretKey function to create keys stronger than 128 bits.

This has been tested to work with CF8 & CF9.

Replacing the files did not cause errors in CF7, but in CF7 the GenerateSecretKey function only takes one argument which is the encryption algorithm and does not allow for a key length to be specified. Perhaps those of you who know java will be able to access the underlying encryption library directly and still get it to work in CF7?

UPDATE: I tried this and it still seems to not work.

UPDATE: Per Jason Dean’s comment below: for this to work in CF7 you need to use a different library. The strong encryption library for CF7 can be downloaded here.

Sony BMG rootkit scandal: 5 years later

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/110110-sonybmg-rootkit-fsecure-drm.html?page=1

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s Howl and the Sony Rootkit

BRMC’s Howl is one of my favorite albums. I listen to it all the time. Mostly for the song “Ain’t No Easy Way Out”. I’m a sucker for acoustic rock songs, though I love the whole album. But I’d never recommend the album to any of my friends. Why? It could damage your computer.

Sony, in their never ending quest to punish their customers, put an auto-installing root kit on the CD. If you purchase the CD and listen to it on your computer the root kit will silently will install itself, phone home to Sony, hide all files that begin with ‘$sys$’, as well as cause occasional crashes and lockups. Attempts to remove the rootkit will disable your cdrom.

For more information check out this article. There was a class-action lawsuit against Sony because of the damage caused by the rootkit that was settled in 2005. But there’s still a ton of these CDs floating around out there so be careful.

But there’s hope! Now thanks to Amazon I can finally recommend this album to friends as a mp3 download. I recommend you give it a listen.