I’ve had some thoughts for a while now about a self-contained firewall appliance built from some sort of embedded-like hardware and Linux. I’ve used custom firmware distributions like SveaSoft and DD-WRT for several years now and I’ve been very happy with the results. However, I’ve found them somewhat limiting in various ways, especially in regards to the hardware they’re used to running on. I also have a lot of concerns about the SveaSoft business model, apparent GPL violations, and the way the lead developer treats people who disagree with him. While I’m impressed with the technical merit of both firmwares, I wanted to do something that IS based on GPL, free-as-in-beer software, wasn’t limited by the hardware provided by Linksys/Cisco models, would allow me to experiment with some different things easily, and…well…look plain cool.

So, it’s been a long time since a posted anything here but I found something a little worth-while in the recent past that I thought I’d share with anyone reading out there. CAcert is an organization dedicated to providing free SSL Certificates to the community. Anyone can get certificates for clients (email), web servers, or code-signing. Certificates are good for six months unless you get ‘Assured’ by the ‘Web of Trust’ program. The idea is that you meet other people who are already ‘assured’ to some extent. They look at your documentation (driver’s license, etc) and verify you are who you say you are, then award ‘Assurance Points’ to your account on the site. With 50 Assurance Points your certificates will last one year instead of just six months.

Seeing as I just started a new development website for BDI a couple months ago, the idea of free SSL certificates for the domains I have is certainly nice. And now that I’ve been assured to some extent, I’ve volunteered to be an Assurer as well. Check it out if you have the time and need for such a thing.