Fuse Services Framework is an open source SOAP and REST web services platform based on Apache CXF for use in enterprise IT organizations. It is productized and supported by the Fuse group at FuseSource Corp. Fuse Services Framework service-enables new and existing systems for use in enterprise SOA infrastructure. Fuse Services Framework is a pluggable, small-footprint engine that creates high performance, secure and robust services in minutes using front-end programming APIs like JAX-WS and JAX-RS. It supports multiple transports and bindings and is extensible so developers can add bindings for additional message formats so all systems can work together without having to communicate through a centralized server. Fuse Services Framework is now a part of Red Hat JBoss Fuse. Fabric8 is a free Apache 2.0 Licensed upstream community for the JBoss Fuse product from Red Hat.
Mastodon (social network)
Mastodon is a free and open-source software platform for decentralized social networking with microblogging features similar to Twitter. It operates as a federated network of independently managed servers that communicate using the ActivityPub protocol, allowing users to connect across different instances within the Fediverse. Each Mastodon instance establishes its own moderation policies and content guidelines, distinguishing it from centrally controlled social media platforms. First released in 2016 by Eugen Rochko, Mastodon has positioned itself as an alternative to mainstream social media, particularly for users seeking decentralized, community-driven spaces. The platform has experienced multiple surges in adoption, most notably following the Twitter acquisition by Elon Musk in 2022, as users sought alternatives to Twitter. It is part of a broader shift toward decentralized social networks, including Bluesky and Lemmy. Mastodon emphasizes user privacy and moderation flexibility, offering features such as granular post visibility controls, content warning options, and local community-driven moderation. The software is written in Ruby on Rails and Node.js, with a web interface built using React and Redux. It is interoperable with other ActivityPub-based platforms, such as Threads, and supports various third-party applications on desktop and mobile devices. == Functionality == Users post short-form status messages, historically known as "toots", for others to see and interact with. On a standard Mastodon instance, these messages can include up to 500 text-based characters, greater than Twitter's 280-character limit. Some instances support even longer messages. Images, audio files, videos or polls can also be added to a message. Users join a specific Mastodon server, rather than a single centralized website or application. The servers are connected as nodes in a network, and each server can administer its own rules, account privileges, and whether to share messages to and from other servers. Users can communicate and follow each other across connected Mastodon servers with usernames similar in format to full email addresses. Since version 2.9.0, Mastodon's web user interface has offered a single-column mode for new users by default. In advanced mode, the interface approximates the microblogging interface of TweetDeck. === Privacy === Mastodon includes a number of specific privacy features. Each message has a variety of privacy options available, and users can choose whether the message is public or private. Messages can display public on a global feed, known as a timeline, or can be shared only to the user's followers. Messages can also be marked as unlisted from timelines or direct between users. Users can also mark their accounts as completely private. In the timeline, messages can display with an optional content warning feature, which requires readers to click on the hidden main body of the message to reveal it. Mastodon servers have used this feature to hide spoilers, trigger warnings, and not safe for work (NSFW) content, though some accounts use the feature to hide links and thoughts others might not want to read. Mastodon aggregates messages in local and federated timelines in real time. The local timeline shows messages from users on a singular server, while the federated timeline shows messages across all participating Mastodon servers. === Content moderation === In early 2017, journalists like Sarah Jeong distinguished Mastodon from Twitter for its approach to combating harassment. Mastodon uses community-based moderation, in which each server can limit or filter out undesirable types of content, while Twitter uses a single, global policy on content moderation. Servers can choose to limit or filter out messages with disparaging content. The founder of Mastodon, Eugen Rochko, believes that small, closely related communities deal with unwanted behavior more effectively than a large company's small safety team. In Move Slowly and Build Bridges, Robert W. Gehl argues that predominantly white participation has shaped Mastodon in ways that affect how reports of racism are received and limit its ability to replicate Black Twitter on Twitter. Users can also block and report others to administrators, much like on Twitter. Instance administrators can block other instances from interacting with their own, an action called defederation. By posting toots hashtagged with #fediblock, some instance administrators and users alert others of issues requiring moderation. === Searching === Mastodon by default allows searching for hashtags and mentioned accounts in the Fediverse. Server administrators can optionally enable Elasticsearch to search the full-text of public posts that have opted in to being indexed. == Versions == In September 2018, with the release of version 2.5 with redesigned public profile pages, Mastodon marked its 100th release. Mastodon 2.6 was released in October 2018, introducing the possibilities of verified profiles and live, in-stream link previews for images and videos. Version 2.7, in January 2019, made it possible to search for multiple hashtags at once, instead of searching for just a single hashtag, with more robust moderation capabilities for server administrators and moderators, while accessibility, such as contrast for users with sight issues, was improved. The ability for users to create and vote in polls, as well as a new invitation system to manage registrations was integrated in April 2019. Mastodon 2.8.1, released in May 2019, made images with content warnings blurred instead of completely hidden. In version 2.9 in June 2019, an optional single-column view was added. This view became the default displayed to new users, with a user "preferences" option to switch to a multiple-column-based view. In August 2020, Mastodon 3.2 was released. It included a redesigned audio player with custom thumbnails and the ability to add personal notes to one's profile. In July 2021, an official client for iOS devices was released. According to the project's then CEO, Eugen Rochko, the release was part of an effort to attract new users. Mastodon 4.0 was released in November 2022, including language support for translating posts, editing posts and following hashtags. Mastodon 4.5 was released in November 2025. Among other features it introduced quote posts, which were previously rejected from being implemented due to concerns about toxicity and harassment. To mitigate these issues Mastodon's quote post feature has been designed in a way that lets users decide if and by whom their posts can be quoted. == Software == Mastodon is published as free and open-source software under the Affero GPL license, allowing anyone to use the software or modify it as they wish. Servers can be run by any individual or organization, and users can join these servers as they wish. The server software itself is powered by Ruby on Rails and Node.js, with its web client being written in React.js and Redux. The only database software supported is PostgreSQL, with Redis being used for job processing and various actions that Mastodon needs to process. The service is interoperable with the fediverse, a collection of social networking services which use the ActivityPub protocol for communication between each other, with previous versions containing support for OStatus. Client apps for interacting with the Mastodon API are available for desktop computer operating systems, including Windows, macOS and the Linux family of operating systems, as well as mobile phones running iOS and Android. The API is open for anyone to utilize, allowing clients to be built for any operating system that can connect to the internet. === Integration with Fediverse === Mastodon uses the ActivityPub protocol for federation; this allows users to communicate between independent Mastodon instances and other ActivityPub compatible services. Thus, Mastodon is generally considered to be a part of the Fediverse. Services utilizing the ActivityPub protocol exist which allow for searching all posts on all instances as long as users opt-in. For similar reasons, only hashtags can appear in a Mastodon instance's trending topics, not arbitrary popular words. Trending topics vary between instances, since individual instances are aware of different subsets of posts from the whole fediverse. === Security concerns === While Mastodon's decentralized structure is one of its most distinctive features, it also poses additional security challenges. Since many Mastodon instances are run by volunteers, some security experts are concerned about data security and responsiveness to new threats and vulnerabilities across the network, considering the difficulty of configuring and maintaining an instance as well as uneven skill levels among administrators. Administrators of an instance also have access to the private information of any users that are either registered with that instance or have federated
Vx-underground
vx-underground, also known as VXUG, is an educational website about malware and cybersecurity. It claims to have the largest online repository of malware. The site was launched in May, 2019 and has grown to host over 35 million pieces of malware samples. On their account on Twitter, VXUG reports on and verifies cybersecurity breaches. == Reception == Kim Crawley compared the site to VirusTotal and states that vx-underground is more susceptible to suspicion for law enforcement. == Data breach reports == In May 2024, the International Baccalaureate organizations faced allegations over supposed breaches in their IT infrastructure after an incident of examination leaks. Upon inspecting leaked data, VXUG were the first to report that the breach seemed legitimate on the morning of May 6.
Site Security Handbook
The Site Security Handbook, RFC 2196, is a guide on setting computer security policies and procedures for sites that have systems on the Internet (however, the information provided should also be useful to sites not yet connected to the Internet). The guide lists issues and factors that a site must consider when setting their own policies. It makes a number of recommendations and provides discussions of relevant areas. This guide is only a framework for setting security policies and procedures. In order to have an effective set of policies and procedures, a site will have to make many decisions, gain agreement, and then communicate and implement these policies. The guide is a product of the IETF SSH working group, and was published in 1997, obsoleting the earlier RFC 1244 from 1991.
Cowrie (honeypot)
Cowrie is a medium interaction SSH and Telnet honeypot designed to log brute force attacks and shell interaction performed by an attacker. Cowrie also functions as an SSH and telnet proxy to observe attacker behavior to another system. Cowrie was developed from Kippo. == Reception == Cowrie has been referenced in published papers. The Book "Hands-On Ethical Hacking and Network Defense" includes Cowrie in a list of 5 commercial honeypots. === Prior uses === Discussing a honeypot effort called the Project Heisenberg Cloud by Rapid7, Bob Rudis, the company's chief data scientist, told eWEEK, "There are custom Rapid7-developed low- and medium-interaction honeypots used within the framework, along with open-source ones, such as Cowrie." Doug Rickert has experimented with the open-source Cowrie SSH honeypot and wrote about it on Medium. Putting up a simple honeypot isn't difficult, and there are many open-source products besides Cowrie, including the original Honeyd to MongoDB and NoSQL honeypots, to ones that emulate web servers. Some appear to be SCADA or other more advanced applications. === Best practices === Researchers at the SysAdmin, Audit, Network and Security (SANS) institute urged administrators and security researchers to run the latest version of Cowrie on a honeypot to monitor shifts in the type of passwords being scanned for and pattern of attacks on IoT devices. === Discussion and further resources === Attack Detection and Forensics Using Honeypot in an IoT Environment calls Cowrie a "medium interaction honeypot" and describes results from using it for 40 days to capture "all communicated sessions in log files." The book Advances on Data Science also devotes chapter two to "Cowrie Honeypot Dataset and Logging." ICCWS 2018 13th International Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security describes using Cowrie. On the Move to Meaningful Internet Systems: OTM 2019 Conferences includes details of using Cowrie. Splunk, a security tool that can receive information from honeypots, outlines how to set up a honeypot using the open-source Cowrie package.
Captions (app)
Mirage (formerly known as Captions) is a video-generating, video-editing and AI research company headquartered in New York City. Their first app, Captions, is available on iOS, Android, and Web and offers a suite of tools aimed at streamlining the creation and editing of videos. Their enterprise platform, Mirage Studio, generates AI actors and videos for marketing assets and video campaigns. == History == Mirage was co-founded by Gaurav Misra and Dwight Churchill. During Misra's time leading design engineering at Snap Inc., he followed the rise of a new category of video, the "talking video." In 2021, Misra left Snap to found Mirage with his former colleague Churchill. Later that year, the Captions app launched with early backing from venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz as well as individual investors. In 2023, the company released Lipdub, an Al dubbing app which translates any video with spoken audio into 28 languages. In October 2023, Captions shared that it maintained over 100,000 daily active users with "about a million" videos being created monthly. In November 2024, Captions acquired AlpacaML, a generative AI company that focused on art and other images. In June 2025, Captions launched Mirage Studio, for marketers and advertising agencies. In September 2025, Captions rebranded their company to Mirage. This change reflects the company's focus on developing their proprietary foundation model and future video products. == Products == The Captions app offers features to automate common production tasks including captioning, editing, dubbing, script creation, and music integration. Mirage Studio allows users to generate AI avatars and create short-form videos from prompts or audio. == Awards == In 2023, the company was recognized as part of Fast Company's "Next Big Things In Tech" series. In 2024, the company won 2 Webby Awards for Best Use of AI & Machine Learning and Creative Production.
Zesta
Zesta is an online food ordering and delivery platform operating across the African region. Formerly known as Square Eats, the company rebranded to Zesta in 2025. Zesta connects customers with restaurants and stores, offering delivery services for food, groceries, parcel delivery and other essentials. == History == Zesta was originally founded as Square Eats in 2020 by twin brothers Henry Newman and Randall Newman when they were 21 years old. It was launched in Gaborone, Botswana, and quickly gained traction as a leading food delivery service in the country. The company halted operations and took a strategic decision to reinvent the business in 2022. In 2025, the company announced its rebranding to Zesta, highlighting its commitment to evolving beyond food delivery to become a super app. === COVID-19 initiative === During the COVID-19 pandemic, Zesta (then Square Eats) implemented measures to ensure safety and hygiene, including providing free gloves and hand sanitizer to drivers and introducing contactless delivery options. These efforts positioned the platform as a trusted service during the pandemic. == Service == Zesta facilitates delivery from a wide range of merchant partners via a smartphone app, available on iOS and Android platforms, or through its website. Customers can browse their favorite restaurants, place orders, and have meals delivered to their doorstep efficiently.