Posts about security | The Villain's Lab

The 5 Pillars of Platform Engineering

2026-09-15 00:00 • by The Villain

engineering linux networking platform-engineering scripting security storage

Over the past few years, something has happened that I did not entirely expect: people have started paying attention to what I have to say.

The Engineering Foundations Library

2026-07-08 00:00 • by The Villain

devops distributed-systems engineering linux networking platform-engineering security sre systems

Ok, let's talk about something that keeps annoying me.

We have a lot of engineers that know tools. They know Kubernetes, Terraform, Argo, AWS, GitHub Actions, Prometheus, Grafana, Postgres, Redis, Kafka, and whatever else happens to be in the stack this year. That is fine. Tools matter. The problem is that a lot of them do not understand the substrate those tools are built on.

Windows Toolbox [Updated]

2015-10-09 00:00 • by The Villain

networking security tools

I know, I know, what the hell am I doing talking about windows, right? Well, unfortunately, even I get stuck having to run it in some instances, like when a vendor we work with uses a vpn that is only supported in win32. On the bright side, it is just a vm.

ssh-ident: Hello relatively painless ssh-agent

2014-04-17 00:00 • by The Villain

security tips tools

As anyone who consults to multiple clients knows, ssh-agent can be a lifesaver, but it can equally be a huge hindrance.

Heartbleed and Automation

2014-04-08 00:00 • by The Villain

config management security self-hosting tools

Well, by now we have all heard of and had to deal with the recent ramifications of HeartBleed on the impact it has had on our servers and services.

Would you hire her?

2014-01-17 00:00 • by The Villain

interviewing leadership security

I was browsing linkedin right quick before signing off, and I saw a headline that grabbed my attention. It opened up about wether or not you would hire “The ugliest woman in the world,” Lizzie Velasquez.