Apache APISIX API Security

Secure your API with these 16 Practices with Apache APISIX - part 2

Last week, we listed 16 practices to help secure one’s APIs and described how to implement them with Apache APISIX. Authentication 🕵️️ - Verifies the identity of users accessing APIs.Authorization 🚦 - Determines permissions of authenticated users.Data Redaction 🖍️ - Obscures sensitive data for protection.Encryption 🔒 - Encodes data so only authorized parties can decode it.Error Handling ❌ - Manages responses when things go wrong, avoiding revealing sensitive info.Input Validation & D

Apache APISIX API Security

Secure your API with these 16 Practices with Apache APISIX - part 1

A couple of months ago, I stumbled upon this list of 16 practices to secure your API: Authentication 🕵️️ - Verifies the identity of users accessing APIs.Authorization 🚦 - Determines permissions of authenticated users.Data Redaction 🖍️ - Obscures sensitive data for protection.Encryption 🔒 - Encodes data so only authorized parties can decode it.Error Handling ❌ - Manages responses when things go wrong, avoiding revealing sensitive info.Input Validation & Data Sanitization 🧹 - Checks input da

Rust error management

Error management in Rust, and libs that support it

As part of learning the Rust ecosystem, I dedicated the last few days to error management. Here are my findings. Error management 101 The Rust book describes the basics of error management. The language separates between recoverable errors and unrecoverable ones. Unrecoverable errors benefit from the panic!() macro. When Rust panics, it stops the program. Recoverable errors are much more enjoyable. Rust uses the Either monad, which stems from Functional Programming. Opposite to exceptions

Apache APISIX OWASP coraza

Hardening Apache APISIX with the OWASP's Coraza and Core Ruleset

The OWASP stands for Open Worldwide Application Security Project: The Open Worldwide Application Security Project is an online community that produces freely available articles, methodologies, documentation, tools, and technologies in the fields of IoT, system software and web application security. The OWASP provides free and open resources. It is led by a non-profit called The OWASP Foundation. The OWASP Top 10 - 2021 is the published result of recent research based on comprehensive data com

OpenTelemetry DevOps

Improving upon my OpenTelemetry Tracing demo

Last year, I wrote a post on Open Telemetry Tracing to understand more about the subject. I also created a demo around it, which featured the following components: The Apache APISIX API GatewayA Kotlin/Spring Boot serviceA Python/Flask serviceAnd a Rust/Axum service I’ve recently improved the demo to deepen my understanding and want to share my learning. Using a regular database In the initial demo, I didn’t bother with a regular database. Instead: The Kotlin service used the e

html svg fonts fix

Keeping your fonts in embedded SVG

Last year, I started to use Excalidraw as a diagram tool. However, the SVG images didn’t display the font correctly. In this post, I’d like to explain the problem and offer a solution. Let’s create a sample drawing with Excalidraw. If you open the link, it should look something like this: However, in a browser, it looks like this: The code is straightforward: <img src='/path/to/sample.svg'> The font doesn’t display correctly. The problem is that the

Docker Security

Kicking the tires of Docker Scout

I never moved away from Docker Desktop. For some time, after you use it to build an image, it prints a message: What's Next? View a summary of image vulnerabilities and recommendations → docker scout quickview I decided to give it a try. I’ll use the root commit of my OpenTelemetry tracing demo. Let’s execute the proposed command: docker scout quickview otel-catalog:1.0 Here’s the result: ✓ Image stored for indexing ✓ Indexed 272 packages Target

2023

2023 in retrospective

Last year, I wrote my first yearly retrospective. I liked the experience, so I’m trying one more time. Let the future decide if it will become a trend or not. Before diving into our safe technological world, my thoughts go to Ukraine, to my friends who had to flee their own country, to other friends who fought on the front to defend it from an imperial power, and to all victims of an old kleptocrat who clings to power despite the cost to others. The free world needs to support Ukraine mor

Apache OpenSource China

Five Apache projects you probably didn't know about

In early 2021, I started to work on the Apache APISIX project. I have to admit that I had never heard about it before. In this post, I’d like to introduce some Apache projects that are less well-known than HTTPD or Kafka. Apache APISIX APISIX is an API Gateway. It builds upon OpenResty, a Lua layer built on top of the famous nginx reverse-proxy. APISIX adds abstractions to the mix, e.g., Route, Service, Upstream, and offers a plugin-based architecture. Lots of plugins are provided ou