NGINX will soon be able to use the ACME protocol to automatically get and renew SSL certificates. This seems like it has been a long time coming, as it's just now in a preview release. Apache's stable release has been able to do it for a while.
Makes configuring SSL simple by enabling a whole set of security policy directives in one command.
Apache includes policies from the Mozilla organization, including the most secure option: "modern"
2025-07-29 update: SSLPolicy is only in Apache 2.5.0 or later. It's currently not even in Debian Sid :-(
# yourproject/settings.py
DATABASES = {
"default": {
"ENGINE": "django.db.backends.sqlite3",
"OPTIONS": {
"transaction_mode": "IMMEDIATE",
"timeout": 5, # seconds
"init_command": """
PRAGMA journal_mode=WAL;
PRAGMA synchronous=NORMAL;
PRAGMA mmap_size = 134217728;
PRAGMA journal_size_limit = 27103364;
PRAGMA cache_size=2000;
""",
},
}
}I could use this backend-agnostic script. Right now I just spam Ctrl-R!
Keep as much logic in the database, using constraints, stored procedures, and functions (Postgres even lets you write them in Python) as possible.
This reduces duplication of logic between the DB and external code, and allows the external code to change without issue.
Apache's built-in mod_md can handle automatic retrieval and renewal of Let's Encrypt certificates (or similar with ACME) without external software. Convenient!
Dozens of images aren't required for a favicon. The article recommends 6, but I would try just .ico at only 32x32 and a SVG.
Includes a description of the files required and why, as well as how to generate them with Inkscape and Gimp.
The best way to run javascript is in the head with the "defer" attribute. That immediately starts fetching the script, but waits to execute it until the whole page is parsed.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Title</title>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<script src="blahblah.js" defer></script>
</head>
<body>
<p>Stuff here</p>
</body>
</html>Cheet sheets on all kinds of security, from C-based toolchain hardening to HTTP headers.
A really nice guide to the best, most secure ways to do website authentication. Lots of nice links