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sf.cu > About

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About

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sf.cu > About

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About

My name is Sufyaan. My passion lies in computing and design. In fact, I regularly work for 4-7 hours on end tinkering applications, brainstorming new software ideas and practising brand design. My end goal is to impact the lives of as many people as possible through design and software.

I am currently open for brand design projects for technology companies.

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I prefer to use products that are not from big corporations like Apple, Google, Microsoft or Meta. This is because of the invasive tracking, data collection and also because of centralization. If I have my email, pictures, videos, documents, notes and calendar on a Google account which gets banned or deleted, I will lose everything. Also, Google has full control over all of the aforementioned things even though they are technically mine. Don't get me wrong, I still use some of their products for specific things. However, I do not have complete dependence on them.

To chat with people, I use many apps. As mentioned before, I use XMPP, Session, Signal and WhatsApp. I also use email and will talk regularly with people as long as they use encryption with their emails.

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Contact

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Contact

If you would like to connect with me, please keep reading.

Email

My preferred way of communication is email. However, it is incredibly insecure. Therefore, I request you to encrypt your emails with me.

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sf.cu > Blog > Use AnySoftKeyboard

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Use AnySoftKeyboard

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Posted on: 22 September 2023

Reading time: 3 min

Category: Software

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sf.cu > Blog > Use AnySoftKeyboard

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Use AnySoftKeyboard

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Posted on: 22 September 2023

Reading time: 3 min

Category: Software

Your smartphone keyboard is an astoundingly sensitive piece of software. You use it to type everything from the most innocent of messages to the most crucial passwords. In terms of messaging on encrypted chat applications like Session or Signal, your smartphone keyboard bypasses encryption. They could know what you are searching about even on private search engines like SearX. This is because your keystrokes are unencrypted. With respect to passwords, your smartphone keyboard, if invasive, can potentially view your bank account details. This means that an individual who can access your smartphone keyboard does not need to utilize advanced techniques to view your data. Therefore, in terms of trust, you should make sure you absolutely trust your smartphone keyboard not to store your written text.

When you keep the above statements in mind, it gets unhealthily fear-inducing when you read how SwiftKey had a cloud syncing glitch which led to users being able to view other users' email addresses. It is also scary how SwiftKey that shipped by default on 600M Samsung Galaxy smartphones had a vulnerability that allowed hackers to setup a proxy server to access sensors and install apps without the user knowing. There was also a keyboard called ai.type that had over 40M users. Out of these, 31M users had their data leaked because the MongoDB database had no password. This included information like phone numbers, full names, device names and models, screen resolution, Android version, IMSI and IMEI numbers, email addresses, country of residence, social media profiles, IP addresses and even locations.

What is the solution to this madness? Fortunately, if you are on Android, you have free software options. By using free software keyboards, you can ensure that none of your keystrokes are stored or sent to a server. This brings us to AnySoftKeyboard. AnySoftKeyboard is a free, libre and open-source keyboard for Android that has multiple modes, layouts, theme customizations and more. It has all the features you would expect. Gesture typing, keyboard effects, corrections, emojis, you name it. Most importantly, it does not track any of your keystrokes. I have been using it for almost an year. It has been fast and efficient due to the minimalism and has saved me a lot of time. It has many niche features like a terminal layout that has arrows, tabs, pipes and forward slashes for ease of use in Android terminal emulators like Termux.

If you are on an iPhone, the best option is ironically Gboard. You can block Gboard's tracking using iOS' tracker blocking. Gboard does not log the text you store and instead uses federated learning to improve its autocorrect. There are no private options for an iPhone so it is better to choose the best out of two evils.

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sf.cu > Blog > Taking Proper Backups

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Taking Proper Backups

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sf.cu > Blog > Taking Proper Backups

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Taking Proper Backups

Posted on: 27 July 2023

Reading time: 5 min

Category: Technology

Taking backups is crucial in every single context. There is simply no situation where the lack of backups was beneficial. Such situations are always detrimental to people. Backups are also important for businesses, especially ones which are responsible for the lives of people, like hospitals.

Taking backups prevents data loss due to software or hardware errors. Even accidents have a minimal impact if you have a backup. It allows businesses to keep growing instead of being worried about recovering crucial client data. For public services like hospitals, being hit with ransomware is an extremely difficult moment. If the ransom is not paid immediately, it can result in loss of human lives. This is why you either have backups or lose money.

Losing precious memories hurts. Backups prevent this gut-wrenching scenario from ever occurring. With many spectacular backup solutions being free or cheap, there is absolutely no reason to take backups. If you work with new computers and devices regularly, then taking backups makes it easy to migrate and install multiple instances on new devices. This is especially easy with Linux systems due to the simple dotfile method. It also provides version control. If you have old versions of documents and files, it is easy to refer to previous examples for future work.

If there is one thing that people love about backups, it is the peace of mind you get knowing that you have an extremely low chance of losing your important data.

It does not matter if you are a normal person or a massive business; you should spend time and money to back up your data properly.

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3-2-1 Backup Rule

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3-2-1 Backup Rule

The 3-2-1 backup rule is a rule that many people recommend following to remember to take proper backups. Here is the meaning of each of the numbers:

  1. Three Copies: The "3" in the rule means that you should at least three copies of your data. This includes your original data, so you should have at least your original data along with two other copies. The advantage of having these many copies is that it is the perfect balance of simplicity and redundancy.
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  2. One Off-site Copy: The "1" in the rule means that you should have at least one off-site copy. Off-site in this case means somewhere other than your main home or regular backup methods. This can be an encrypted external hard drive that you leave at your relative's house, for example.

It is important to note that these rules are not a plan for everyone, and are instead meant as a base for your backup plans. The least important data that you own should at least be backed up using the base 3-2-1 backup plan.

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Using Invasive Services (Drive, OneDrive, iCloud)

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Using Invasive Services (Drive, OneDrive, iCloud)

When it comes to using Big Tech's invasive services, you have to be extremely careful since they do not respect your privacy at all. At the bare minimum, you should be encrypting the files you upload if they are even of a little importance to you.

A popular program for file and drive encryption is VeraCrypt. To learn how to use it in detail, watch this video. The overall process goes like this:

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  1. Upload it wherever you want

This makes it difficult to easily access your files from your phone or another device, but it is totally worth it for your privacy.

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Using Paid Services (Backblaze, Mega)

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Using Paid Services (Backblaze, Mega)

Services like Mega allow you to pay for more storage, just like Drive, OneDrive or Dropbox. There are privacy concerns with the latter three, however. ProtonDrive is also a good option, but it has had some controversy due to the privacy concerns of ProtonMail. However, I am comfortable recommending it.

BackBlaze is a backup program that is under the MIT licence. It works really well for most of their customers, so I am comfortable recommending it.

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Using Owned Services (servers, syncing)

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Using Owned Services (servers, syncing)

When you are using services you own, you have to make sure that you verify the integrity of your files. File corruption can happen on every platform, but it is much better to verify your files on your server since there may be issues with your setup that causes file corruption.

It is also important to keep a separate drive or storage medium on your services if possible. If anything happens to your main system, it becomes really easy to just wipe the system and install a new one, knowing that your data is safe.

You can also use sync services like Syncthing for small files that you need synced within all of your devices. I use it to sync my password manager and personal notes. It is encrypted and open-source software and works extremely fast. It is so fast that by the time I save a file and open my phone, the file is already updated. This prevents conflicts.

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Taking Offline Backups

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Taking Offline Backups

If you are taking offline backups, you should be careful with encrypting your data if you need it. You should first assess whether you need encryption or not. If you live in an area with a lot of robberies, encrypt it, as a robber who is smart enough may steal your drive.

Make sure to get an external hard drive or SSD from a reputable company like Western Digital or Samsung.

By buying a product from a reputable company, you get a reliable product that lasts a long time.

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Maintaining Backups

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Maintaining Backups

While it is important to back up your data, it is also important to maintain your backups. At the end of every month, check your backups to see if your files are still intact. If a specific backup medium keeps showing corruption in files, move it to another drive immediately, since they can fail at any time.

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Conclusion

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Conclusion

While it is important to take backups, it is also important to make sure you are taking them properly. Follow the 3-2-1 backup rule. If you are using invasive services, encrypt all of your files before uploading them using a trusted piece of software like VeraCrypt.

Try to use services that you own as much as possible, to be completely independent. Make sure to have offline backups.

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sf.cu > Blog > Design

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Design

This category is reserved for posts related to design.