2026-08-29 Saturday - The Last 365 Days - some of my LinkedIn engagement stats

[image credit: LubosHouska  on pixabay dot com]

I consider the act of writing to be a craft, and the image of the wheel of the potter resonates well with my intention to create. 

My first audience is myself. I write to clarify my thinking, to capture contemporaneous events & ideas, and to document what I have discovered and learned – at a point in time.

A secondary goal is to help others: To illuminate, teach, educate, elevate, inform, advise, and provide insights. 

My writing is published through three primary channels: This blog, my LinkedIn posts, and my collection of GitHub repositories. 

With respect to LinkedIn, I took a moment today to reflect on some of my LinkedIn engagement stats.  

Note: 

• My current LinkedIn Connections count: 6,830 
• I am *very* selective about who I connect with on LinkedIn. 
• I decline more connection requests than I accept. 
• Given a choice between gaining 60K more followers/connections, or just two high quality connections that create, make, contribute, share, and actively post/write – without hesitation, I will choose just the two. 

Discovery: 

2026-08-29 Sat - Last 365 Days, SNAPSHOT

 

Engagement:   

2026-08-29 Sat - Last 365 Days, SNAPSHOT

Demographics: 

2026-08-29 Sat - Last 365 Days, SNAPSHOT

2026-08-24 Monday - On The Value of Diagrams

This post was inspired by my reply/comment to a LinkedIn post by Will Borici (Senior Consultant - Platform Strategy | Business Architecture (Data/AI-enabled); NTT DATA, Inc.)

 

[image credit: Vilkasss on pixabay dot com]

Over the weekend, I decided to get started building a piece of software that I have long wanted, and needed. In the past, I have used one commercially available software utility – but it was acquired, and is no longer available. Then I switched to using an open source utility – but it is no longer maintained.

So, I decided to begin.

But, beginning does not mean immediately writing code.

I had some very clear thoughts on what I wanted the software to do, but I wanted to explore the requirements, use cases, and design first.

So, I began drawing diagrams.
Diagrams allowed me to see layers of complexity – that if I had simply started coding – would have constrained, or made more difficult, implementing layers of features I *discovered* that I really wanted.

The more I drew, the more my vision became clearer, crisper, tangible. Reflecting on the diagrams - helped me to see which features to build first, and ways of making it more useful to others.


And, I was reminded, yet again ...
Drawing is a goodness, not a waste.
Even if the diagrams are thrown away, eventually.
Even if the diagrams are no longer maintained.

The diagrams are part of the process in creating great software products. 

2026-08-10 Monday - Suggested Background Reading: KnownDLLs, and DLL Search Order, Sideloading, Highjacking

 

[image source: seowoo_lee on pixabay dot com]

This blog post was motivated by reading the source code for Rufus (The Reliable USB Formatting Utility). In particular, see line #3388, rufus.c

"// Disable loading system DLLs from the current directory ..."
https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/blob/master/src/rufus.c

[also see my companion LinkedIn post]

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Some suggested background reading on the topics of KnownDLLs, DLL Name Resolution, DDL Search Order, DLL Sideloading, and DLL Hijacking.  

knowndlls
https://docs.dissect.tools/en/stable/plugins/knowndlls.html

Virtual memory and KnownDlls
https://github.com/yo-yo-yo-jbo/virtual_memory_known_dlls


Microsoft: Dynamic-link library search order
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/dlls/dynamic-link-library-search-order


How Windows DLL Name Resolution Works - Search Order and SxS (2026)
https://comcomponent.com/en/blog/2026/03/24/002-windows-dll-name-resolution/


DLLs and Ways They Can Hurt Us (2026)
https://www.cynet.com/security-foundations/attack-techniques/dlls-and-ways-they-can-hurt-us/


DLL Sideloading - beyond classic DLL Hijacking - Red team diaries (2026)
https://cp.center/en/blog/post/dll-sideloading-beyond-classic-dll-hijacking-red-team-diaries


Intruders in the Library: Exploring DLL Hijacking (2024)
https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/dll-hijacking-techniques/


Breaking into Libraries – DLL Hijacking (2024)
https://labs.jumpsec.com/breaking-into-libraries-dll-hijacking/


Windows DLL 101 (2024)
"What the heck is a DEE ELL ELL and how do I hijack it?"
https://cybytes.substack.com/p/cybytes-issue-1-windows-dll-101


DLL Search Order Hijacking (2023)
https://medium.com/@sealteamsecs/dll-search-order-hijacking-c9c46ea9026c


OpenFileMapping and KnownDlls (2023)
https://inbits-sec.com/posts/openfilemapping-and-knowndlls/


DLL Side Loading (2022)
https://twelvesec.com/2022/12/16/a-dll-side-loading-technique-in-teamspeak-server-that-gains-reverse-shell-with-ms-real-time-enabled/


The DLL Search Order And Hijacking It (2021)
https://malwareandstuff.com/the-dll-search-order-and-hijacking-it/


Detecting and blocking unknown KnownDlls (2021)
https://www.elastic.co/blog/detect-block-unknown-knowndlls-windows-acl-hardening-attacks-cache-poisoning-escalation


DLL Hijacking: Top 7 Attack Variants and 6 Ways to Mitigate Them 
https://www.airlockdigital.com/learn/dll-hijacking-top-attack-variants-and-ways-to-mitigate-them