More Open Source Security episodes
Published 12 Jan 2026
Duration: 40:07
Iocane protects self-hosted websites from aggressive web crawlers by using a sophisticated runtime that misdirects bots with rubbish content while preserving normal user experiences.
Josh talks to Gergely Nagy (algernon) about his tool Iocaine. Iocaine creates a maze to trap scraping bots in a world a fake pages they cannot escape....
The podcast outlines Iocane, a tool designed to defend self-hosted websites from aggressive web crawlers by serving misleading or nonsensical content to bots while ensuring normal functionality for human users. Iocane works as a runtime system that filters and processes requests using user-defined scripts, often redirecting bots through complex, randomly generated content created with techniques like Markov chains. The system is designed to avoid detection by bots while remaining invisible to legitimate users, using stealthy methods and leveraging cultural references, such as the poison from The Princess Bride, to enhance its approach.
The tools philosophy emphasizes speed, efficiency, and passive mitigation of bot traffic, with a focus on trapping and analyzing bots rather than simply blocking them. The discussion explores bot behavior, techniques for managing bot responses, and strategies for identifying and exploiting bot vulnerabilities, all aimed at helping website owners reclaim control over their content from automated threats. Iocane supports multiple scripting languages and is designed to be integrated seamlessly into existing web infrastructure, providing an innovative and adaptive solution for bot defense.
21 Sept 2026 The curl summer of Bliss with Daniel and Stefan
"Explored open-source security challenges, highlighting curl's 'Summer of Bliss' initiative to reduce maintainer burnout, the impact of AI-generated vulnerability reports, and the need for human expertise in security management, while advocating for sustainable practices in open-source development."
14 Sept 2026 CRA vulnerability reporting with Daniel Thompson
"Cyber Resilience Act imposes strict vulnerability reporting rules on manufacturers, raising concerns over inefficiency, ethical disclosures, and industry compliance challenges."
31 Aug 2026 Sovereign Tech Agency with Erik Moller
"Explores the Sovereign Tech Agency's efforts to sustain open-source software as critical infrastructure, emphasizing public investment, digital sovereignty, and strategic funding for projects like *curl* and AI security."
17 Aug 2026 Maintaining EOL Open Source with Commonhaus and HeroDevs
"Explores open-source maintenance challenges, solutions for solo maintainers, and the role of organizations like Common House and HeroDevs in sustaining projects through financial, legal, and administrative support, emphasizing governance, dependency management, and enterprise-community collaboration to ensure long-term sustainability."
10 Aug 2026 Cleanup, Speedup, Levelup open source at e18e
"E18e enhances JavaScript by reducing dependencies, optimizing tools, and improving security, as seen in its work with Storybook, while promoting cleaner code and community collaboration."