We’re pleased to announce an all-new security feature for the CloudMine platform. You can now use our new API key rules interface to secure application-level data, allowing you to restrict access to your data without requiring your users to log in.
APIs like CloudMine usually restrict access to their data via the use of an API key, or token, that is sent with each request to perform authentication on the server. The problem with this is that the key must be embedded in code. This offers a small level of protection from malicious users, but a motivated person could still decompile the app and get the key without too much effort.
With this feature, you can restrict access to some (or all) of your data using our rules system. You can make certain objects or files read-only, or only allow users to create objects (but not delete them). Security is validated on our servers with each API request. One common scenario is when an HTML5 web app needs access to your data. This works by embedding your key in the app’s JavaScript code. However, keys embedded in JavaScript are easily extracted. In this instance, you should create a new key with read-only permissions and use that to access the API.
If you just want to jump in and play around with the new feature, head on over to your CloudMine Dashboard. Read the quick blurb about how the system is organized, make a new API key, and apply some rules to it. You can use the API Console to explore how your results change depending on which rules you’ve defined.
When you’re satisfied that the rules you’ve created are what you want for your app, you can either apply them to your current API key, or redistribute your app with the new key. If you need more detailed information, visit the App-Level Data Security section of our API documentation.
We have a lot of pride in the new features we’re bringing you, and we’re excited to see how developers end up using it. If you have any questions or comments, don’t hesitate to drop us a line on Twitter or via email.
Some unfortunate events occurred during the afternoon, related to some very poor and offensive wording in the flyer for an event that we were sponsoring. A short summary of what happened:
All of us at CloudMine agreed that this type of language is not acceptable, and we made an effort to contact the organizers of the event to get this changed as quickly as possible. Sexism in tech is a serious problem. Events like what happened today are, unfortunately, not uncommon. Catering exclusively to men in a sexist manner in your marketing materials is not only wrong, but it undermines those trying to make real progress. It hurts everyone when something like this happens—it can make women feel like outsiders in their own field, and it normalizes this type of behavior as okay (which it absolutely never is, even if there was no intention to hurt).
Having said that, we sincerely apologize for any offense that was caused. We never would have posted something like that, and do not endorse anyone who does.
Since we are no longer sponsoring this event, we now have extra funding to sponsor a different event which is more aligned with our views. We love hackathons—our company born at one—and we’d like to put this money to good use at an event that will bring all hackers (women and men alike!) together. Give us your suggestions in the comments or on Twitter (@CloudMine).
Some unfortunate events occurred during the afternoon, related to some very poor and offensive wording in the flyer for an event that we were sponsoring. A short summary of what happened:
All of us at CloudMine agreed that this type of language is not acceptable, and we made an effort to contact the organizers of the event to get this changed as quickly as possible. Sexism in tech is a serious problem. Events like what happened today are, unfortunately, not uncommon. Catering exclusively to men in a sexist manner in your marketing materials is not only wrong, but it undermines those trying to make real progress. It hurts everyone when something like this happens—it can make women feel like outsiders in their own field, and it normalizes this type of behavior as okay (which it absolutely never is, even if there was no intention to hurt).
Having said that, we sincerely apologize for any offense that was caused. We never would have posted something like that, and do not endorse anyone who does.
Since we are no longer sponsoring this event, we now have extra funding to sponsor a different event which is more aligned with our views. We love hackathons—our company was born at one—and we’d like to put this money to good use at an event that will bring all hackers (women and men alike!) together. Give us your suggestions, in the comments or on Twitter (@CloudMine).
