In Part 1, I shared how disabling package scripts and using dev containers saved me from Shai-Hulud. But those were just the first two layers. Here’s where things get interesting – I’ll show you how signed commits can catch unauthorized changes before they happen, and how repository protections created a final safety net. These aren’t theoretical security measures. They’re the same practical defenses I use every single day.

When the Shai-Hulud v2 supply chain attack hit last week, I watched thousands of developers scramble to check their systems. Mine? I was able to mark it as safe. This was because I’d already layered in some straightforward security practices. If you’re wondering how to protect your own development environment from these kinds of attacks, I’ll walk you through the exact configurations and tools I use every day that kept me safe.

A creepy real-world branch name showed how a single Git ref can execute code in your Actions workflow and poison releases. See how the trick works, why it succeeded, and the quick fixes that turn a weaponized ref back into harmless text.

Many companies and teams focus on technical security solutions that lock down development and innovation to avoid risk. To protect their systems, they often end up making it harder for developers to do their jobs (and less secure in the process). What if I told you there was a better way? If you start with people and process first, you can create a secure CI/CD pipeline that balances safety and speed.

Securing DNS isn’t necessarily enough to protect your CI/CD environments. An application can connect directly to an IP or talk to an outside DNS service. In this post you’ll learn use iptables and ip6tables to restrict outbound DNS and block common DNS-over-HTTPS providers on GitHub-hosted runners.

Lately I’ve seen people spin up self-hosted runners just to lock down network egress. That creates maintenance overhead – and your time is valuable. You may not realize this, but you can restrict outbound domains while still using GitHub-hosted runners. In this post you’ll learn how to use a local Unbound allowlist so only approved domains resolve.

Need to authenticate with different Git repositories using various credentials? This post explores how to dynamically authenticate with Git using credential helpers, environment variables, and secret management systems.

Ever wondered how Git actually authenticates with remote repositories? Ever needed to configure different credentials to access different repositories? This article dives into the inner workings of Git authentication, exploring the role of credential helpers, how they are implemented, and how to customize them for your needs.

Every journey begins with a first step. Learn how eliminating data leaks and implementing privacy controls led my wife and I to build a smarter home.

So many times, teams use “it should work” as the reason why their software or processes don’t require testing. For example, the code is so simple, it should work. Or, the code was tested on Linux, so it should work on Windows. In reality, this can be dangerous at best … and fatal at worst.