Outbrain Security Breach Solved

I just got an e-mail from Yaron Galai, CEO of Outbrain, regarding Outbrain's security breach I reported earlier in my blog. As expected, Outbrain reacted immediately to the issue and it was solved promptly. Yaron also commented on the issue in my blog.

As promised, I will write about the Outbrain rating widget, which I have found very useful, in one of my future posts in this blog.

Security Breach in Outbrain?

Recently, I installed the Outbrain rating widget on my blog. Outbrain is a great tool that enables readers to rate each of your posts, and suggests relevant posts to them depending on their rating history. I'll write more about Outbrain in one of my upcoming posts, as it is one of my favorite widgets. But as I discovered today, Outbrain still has its flaws - and today I think I found a serious one.


Earlier today, when I checked entrances to my blog using my FEEDJIT widget, I saw I got an entrance from a URL in the Outbrain domain (www.outbrain.com). When I clicked that URL (as I often do, curious to see who's referring to my Blog), I saw that it was actually some kind of testing website of Outbrain, containing information about blogs that recently installed, updated, or uninstalled the Outbrain widget. Nothing extraordinary so far... However, by further browsing in the page, I found out that the site also contains some personal information, like registered users' e-mail addresses, or statistics which I think should remain only with the registered user, like how many outbrain clicks he got so far...


I won't expose the specific URL I'm talking about here, as I don't want to increase the potential damage from this security breach. I will however share a partial screenshot of the mentioned site (blacking out all personal data, of course).


On discovering this issue, I immediately contacted Outbrain's CEO and one of their support employees (with whom I'm familiar from previous support sessions). Past experience proved me that Outbrain's response is usually prompt and efficient, and this was also the case now - after approx. two minutes I got a response from the CEO, saying they're looking into the matter ASAP. I'll update this blog once I get an official response from them.

Update: The issue described above was quickly solved after I reported it to Outbrain, and I got a reply from them confirming it. Please find more information in the following post. 

New FEEDJIT Version Launched

FEEDJIT launched a new version of their service yesterday (17/11/2008). Up until now, FEEDJIT allowed you to view a live traffic feed of visitors to your blog, providing the visitor’s location, operating system, browser and landing page, plus some interesting statistics such as popular pages per for each area. FEEDJIT’s new feature now allows you to view what are the most popular and relevant blogs in your area (or any area in the world, for that matter). You can do it by browsing to http://www.feedjit.com  . FEEDJIT calls this service “Geoblogosphere”. If your blog is popular in your town/area/country,  it will appear in the Geoblogosphere for your
area. You can access your local Geoblogosphere by going to the FEEDJIT homepage.

Blogs appearing in the Geoblogosphere can be sorted by two categories : Blog popularity and Blog Relevance (Check out this screenshot). Blog popularity, simply put, is measured by the number of visitors to your blog. The Blog Relevance measurement is a bit more tricky: Blog relevance measures how relevant is your blog to your area. If you come from the San Francisco area, and you write an article in your
blog about tourist attractions in San Francisco, there’s a good chance that your blog will be with a high relevance rating, even if it’s not a popular blog that receives many visitors.

You can read more about the new features in the Geoblogsphere FAQ page and also in the FEEDJIT about page.

Self Portrait (Sketch)

Here is another sketch I did with my new Wacom tablet. This time, a self portrait.

My New (And First) Graphic Tablet

I just got my new graphic tablet. I'm a bit embarrassed to say, but it's also my first graphic tablet (and I've been using digital art tools for several years now). I decided to buy one a couple of months ago, when I realized that this tool is a must for any serious artist. After talking to some friends in various art forums and reading some review sites, I decided to go with the Wacom Bamboo Fun - it's professional enough to give professional looking artistic results, yet simple enough to make it affordable. The medium sized one cost me just below 200$ in Amazon (October 2008 prices).

After a quick installation, and a half hour basic tutorial, I went for my first challenge - draw my first artwork using the Bamboo. I decided to draw Dan, the main character in my comic series
"My 25 Percent". It took me around 5 shots to get it right (around 45 minutes), but finally I got a nice black-and-white sketch of Dan, all with the Bamboo. I'll continue experimenting with it, and hopefully soon I'll publish a comic strip that will be done entirely with the Bamboo... I can hardly wait!

Dear Ben

Recently, I launched the second season of my webcomics series, called My 25 Percent. The comic series tells the tale of a young software engineer, who one day found himself working in a large software company, called CRAP.

A new recurring character in this season is Benjamin, a member in CRAP's senior management board. Benjamin takes charge of CRAP's recovery plan, in light of the latest economy crisis , and launches a series of harsh reforms. I decided to draw Benjamin in the image of former prime minister of Israel, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu also served as the Minister of Finance in Ariel Sharon's government, and was known for his Thatcheristic reforms, not unlike Benjamin's reforms in CRAP.

I decided to share with you a glimpse of Benjamin's appearance in the new season. For reading the comics, you can visit the My 25 Percent Website.