GHAS - How to use CodeQL custom queries?

Over the last two years, I have seen a growing awareness when it comes to zero trust computing. When organizations look at zero trust computing, the first thing that comes into mind is getting the infrastructure secure. Assuming breach, ensuring that there are multiple layers of security applied. As an engineer I love seeing this growing awareness. What a lot of organizations seem to forget is that perhaps the most important part of securing its data starts with analyzing the source code of its proprietary software.

Real world mocking! Http Service testing in C# using Wiremock.Net

At Xpirit we have a culture of never ending learning. One of the best ways of learning new things, is by doing it. To take the plunge and do the deep dive.

In this case my colleague Kristoff Riebbels learned me some new tricks by introducing me into the world of WireMock.Net. Together we wrote a magazine article for Xpirit Magazine #13.

In this blog post I want to share this article with you. The magazine can be downloaded from the link above.

Over-The-Air device update - IoT with C#

Developing solutions for IoT devices can be a challenging task, this can also apply for getting a device at its final destination in order to do its job. When time passes by, it is likely that either requirements or conditions are changing and that the device is not capable anymore of doing its job. In other words, it needs to be updated. This is where the real problems may start. In many cases devices are not physically accessible or there are simply too many devices in the field to do manual updates. This is where over-the-air (OTA) updates will save your day.

Register ESP32 to DPS & IoT hub - IoT with C#

In my previous post I flashed my ESP32 with the nanoframework.net, allowing me to write C# code in Visual Studio with all bells and whistles. As life goes… the device landed in my drawer until this week where I had some time to experiment. This time I wanted to hook up the device to Azure IoT hub using the Device Provisioning Service (DPS) which brings me one step closer to my goal, performing device updates over-the-air…

From 0 to 100 in 30 minutes - IoT with C#

My interest for the Internet of Things (IoT) was sparked many moons ago, way before the name was born. Back in the days I wrote software for PalmOS devices, and I was intrigued by having raw processor power in my Pocket. Don’t get me wrong, back then we where talking Megahertz instead of Gigahertz and Kilobyte instead of Gigabyte. Having such limitations in processing power and memory tickled my creativity. When I had the opportunity to control hardware (gps, electronic locks etc) using the little devices I was sold. Fastforward to a couple of years ago when the market was flooded with Arduinos and Raspberry Pis, I picked up an old hobby and started developing again, this time playing around with sensors. The big disadvantage was that you had to resort to plain old C and a crippled development environment, until now…

Running a persistent SQL Server in Docker

In IT we always want to work with the latest and greatest, it’s in our DNA to explore new technologies. From time-to-time you get confronted with legacy technologies, robust but boring. One of such things is a piece of software I wrote more than 15 years ago for a friend. It was an application using a SQL Server database that controlled a couple of weighing terminals connected over RS232. Controlling machines is every geek’s dream. Every couple of years my friend asks me if I can help him to improve the software I wrote for him, this time it was no different.

Note to self: localhost in kestrel is localhost

In one of the projects I’m involved in, I ran into a problem. In this project we are building a solution that is running on a Linux based Edge Device connected to Azure. On the Edge device, a k3s cluster hosts a number of services required by the solution. In order to be able to develop and debug on a Linux environment, I equiped my system with Hyper-V, an internal NAT switch and a fresh copy of Ubuntu.