Encryption In The Cloud

15th of August, 2016 / / No Comments

Is it safe? 

Three simple yet chilling words immortalized by the 1976 movie Marathon Man staring Laurence Olivier and Dustin Hoffman, in which Olivier tries to discover by very unpleasant means whether the location of his stolen diamonds has been exposed.

Well had Sir Lawrence encrypted that information, there would have been no need for him to worry because he would have known that short of using a weak cypher or vulnerable algorithm or password, encrypted data has a very strong chance of remaining secret no matter what.… [Keep reading] “Encryption In The Cloud”

Create a Cloud Strategy For Your Business

15th of August, 2016 / / 1 Comment

Let’s be clear, today’s cloud as a vehicle for robust and flexible enterprise grade IT is here and it’s here to stay. Figures published by IDG Research’s 2015 Enterprise Cloud Computing Survey predict that in 2016 25% of total enterprise IT budgets will be allocated to cloud computing.

They also reported that the average cloud spend for all the enterprises surveyed would reach 2.87M in the following year and that 72% of enterprises have at least one application running in the cloud already, compared to 57% in 2012.… [Keep reading] “Create a Cloud Strategy For Your Business”

Azure Deployment Models And How To Migrate From ASM to ARM

4th of August, 2016 / / 9 Comments

This is a post about the two deployment models currently available in Azure, Service Management (ASM) and Resource Manager (ARM). And how to migrate from one to the other if necessary.

About the Azure Service Management deployment model

The ASM model, also known as version 1 and Classic mode, started out as a web interface and a backend API for the PaaS services Azure opened with at launch.

Features

  1. ASM deployments are based on an XML schema.
… [Keep reading] “Azure Deployment Models And How To Migrate From ASM to ARM”

Using Microsoft Azure Table Service REST API to collect data samples

9th of June, 2016 / / No Comments

Sometimes we need a simple solution that requires collecting data from multiple sources. The sources of data can be IoT devices or systems working on different platforms and in different places. Traditionally, integrators start thinking about implementation of a custom centralised REST API with some database repository. This solution can take days to implement and test, it is very expensive and requires hosting, maintenance, and support. However, in many cases, it is not needed at all.… [Keep reading] “Using Microsoft Azure Table Service REST API to collect data samples”

Inside Azure – Deployment workflow with Fabric Controller and Red Dog Front End

5th of May, 2016 / / 1 Comment

Abstracting complexities around developing, deploying and maintaining software applications have diminished the importance of understanding underlying architecture. While this may work well for today’s aggressive delivery cycles, at the same time, it impacts the ability of engineers to build an efficient, optimal solution which aligns with the internal architecture of the hosting platform. Architects and engineers should be cognizant of the architecture of the hosting environment to better design a system. The same holds good for Microsoft Azure as a hosting provider.… [Keep reading] “Inside Azure – Deployment workflow with Fabric Controller and Red Dog Front End”

Designing for emotion

9th of April, 2016 / / No Comments

What is it that makes us advocates of the products we love? Why are we loyal to a few bunch of apps and websites? When I connected the dots, I realised that all the things I love in my life has one thing in common – emotional attachment.

What is emotional design?

Emotional design is a technique of infusing the elements of emotion into product design. It aims to evoke positive emotions and engagement with consumers.… [Keep reading] “Designing for emotion”

Introduction to User Experience Design

30th of March, 2016 / / No Comments

User Experience is everything that affects a user’s behaviour and interaction with a product or service. It’s about how a person feels, understands, and perceives a product.

Many people confuse User Experience with aesthetics of a product. User Experience Design – rather than focusing just on visual or technical aspects, largely deals with the psychology and behaviour of people.

Also, UX is an umbrella term which comprises of four major disciplines:ux

  1. Information architecture
  2. Interaction design
  3. Visual design
  4. User research

When someone refers to themselves as UX designers, it usually means they have a good understanding of all the four disciplines and are experts at probably a couple of them.

… [Keep reading] “Introduction to User Experience Design”

Windows Server 2012 R2 (ADFS 3.0): Migrating ADFS Configuration Database from WID to SQL

19th of November, 2015 / / 17 Comments

You already have a working ADFS setup which has been configured to use the Windows Internal Database (WID) to store its configuration database. However, things may have changed since you implemented it and you may now have one (or more) of the below requirements which will need an upgrade to SQL server.

  • Need more than five federation servers in the ADFS Farm (supporting more than 10 relying parties)
  • Leverage high availability features of SQL or
  • Enable support for SAML artefact resolution or WS Federation token replay detection.
… [Keep reading] “Windows Server 2012 R2 (ADFS 3.0): Migrating ADFS Configuration Database from WID to SQL”

Handling Complex Object Persistence and Messaging on Mobile

21st of October, 2015 / / 1 Comment

Data persistence and messaging is a very common task that you almost certainly need in your apps. Mobile platforms have come a long way in supporting data persistence mostly through the SQLite engine which has become the standard on all mobile platforms. However, SQLite is (as it’s name suggests) a lightweight engine and does not offer as many features as a full RDBMS.

This should not be a problem on a mobile device where persisting data is intended mostly for caching until the data reaches its ultimate destination on a backend server.… [Keep reading] “Handling Complex Object Persistence and Messaging on Mobile”

Secure Azure Virtual Network Defense In Depth using Network Security Groups, User Defined Routes and Barracuda NG Firewall

25th of August, 2015 / / 3 Comments

Security Challenge on Azure

There are few common security related questions when we start planning migration to Azure:

  • How can we restrict the ingress and egress traffic on Azure ?
  • How can we route the traffic on Azure ?
  • Can we have Firewall kit, Intrusion Prevention System (IPS), Network Access Control, Application Control and Anti – Malware on Azure DMZ ?

This blog post intention is to answer above questions using following Azure features combined with Security Virtual Appliance available on Azure Marketplace:

  • Azure Virtual Network (VNET)
  • Azure Network Security Groups (NSGs)
  • Azure Network Security Rule
  • Azure Forced Tunelling
  • Azure Route Table
  • Azure IP Forwarding
  • Barracuda NG Firewall available on Azure Marketplace

One of the most common methods of attack is The Script Kiddie / Skiddie / Script Bunny / Script Kitty.… [Keep reading] “Secure Azure Virtual Network Defense In Depth using Network Security Groups, User Defined Routes and Barracuda NG Firewall”