How Does Email Work?

First, you use a mail user agent, or MUA to read and send email from your device (such as gmail, or the mail app on Apple devices). These programs are only active when you're using them. Generally, they communicate with a mail transfer agent, or MTA (also known as a…

Encryption Algorithms

Cryptography, at its most basic, is the science of using codes and ciphers to protect messages. Encryption is encoding messages with the intent of only allowing the intended recipient to understand the meaning of the message. It is a two way function (you need to be able to undo whatever…

How to Crack Passwords

A brief note - this article is about the theory of how to crack passwords. Understanding how cybercriminals execute attacks is extremely important for understanding how to secure systems against those types of attacks. Attempting to hack a system you do not own is likely illegal in your jurisdiction (plus…

How did someone get my password?

A brief note - this article is about the theory of how to crack passwords. Understanding how cybercriminals execute attacks is extremely important for understanding how to secure systems against those types of attacks. Attempting to hack a system you do not own is likely illegal in your jurisdiction (plus…

What you need to know about DNS

Domain Name System Lookup, or DNS for short, is what happens in the time between someone typing a URL into the search bar and the page loading. Technically speaking, it is a process that translates URLs (like www.google.com) into IP addresses.…