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The InstantTools Blog
Practical writing on passwords, privacy, cryptography, and the tools developers actually use. No SEO filler. No listicles padded to 2,000 words. Just useful information.
Security
Your password manager is useless if you do this one thing
Password managers are one of the best security decisions you can make. But there’s a mistake that nullifies most of the benefit — and most people make it.
Security
What actually happens when a website gets hacked
The headlines say “millions of passwords exposed.” But what does that mean in practice? What do attackers actually do with your data, and how fast does it happen?
Cryptography
SHA-256 vs bcrypt: which one should you use for passwords?
Both are cryptographic functions. Both produce fixed-length output. But using the wrong one for password storage is a serious security mistake. Here’s why.
Privacy
How to find out if your email was in a data breach
Billions of credentials have been leaked in data breaches over the past decade. There’s a good chance yours are in there. Here’s how to check — and what to do if they are.
Security
QR code scams are on the rise. Here’s how to spot them
QR codes are everywhere now — restaurant menus, parking meters, event posters. Attackers noticed. Here’s what quishing is, how it works, and how to protect yourself.
Cryptography
How random is “random”? The difference between Math.random() and crypto
Not all randomness is equal. The difference between
Math.random() and crypto.getRandomValues() is the difference between a pattern an attacker can predict and one they cannot.