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Showing posts with the label polyglot

Unusual Traffic, Unexpected Chaos: The Truth Behind the Cloudflare Outage

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Cloudflare's Global Outage: Understanding the Root Cause Behind the September 18 Network Disruption On 18 September, the world witnessed a sudden and widespread slowdown of the internet. Websites and applications depending on Cloudflare ranging from social networks to API driven platforms began returning Internal Server Error messages. Millions of users assumed it was a cyberattack, a DDoS event, or a breach. However, the truth behind the outage was far more nuanced and rooted in Cloudflare’s internal architecture. This blog breaks down what Cloudflare does, why bot mitigation plays a critical role, how an unexpected configuration file led to an internal service crash, and why “unusual traffic” triggered a global ripple. What Cloudflare Really Does for the Internet Cloudflare is more than a simple CDN or firewall it is a massive reverse-proxy network that sits between users and websites. It accelerates content delivery, filters malicious traffic, provides DNS services, manage...

File Doppelgängers: The World of Polyglot Files

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Unlocking the Secrets of Polyglot Files: When One File Speaks Many Languages Introduction In the world of cybersecurity, appearances can be deceiving. A file might look like an innocent image, but behind the scenes, it could also be a ZIP archive, a PDF, or even an executable. Such files are called polyglots — single files that are valid under multiple file formats at the same time. Polyglots are fascinating from a technical standpoint, but they also pose serious security risks. Attackers often use them to bypass filters, sneak past antivirus solutions, or trick unsuspecting users into executing malicious code. What Are Polyglot Files? A polyglot file is crafted in such a way that it conforms to the specifications of two (or more) different file types simultaneously. Example: A file that is both a JPEG image and a ZIP archive . When opened in an image viewer → You see a normal picture. When extracted with a ZIP tool → You find hidden file...