iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Owen, DSc, PhD Student @theravenswood.bsky.social · 26/05/2025

It’s been a minute since I posted a self-hosting update. After a 2nd spam incident (open relay misfire—my bad), I tore things down and rebuilt. Now running a lean, hardened Mailu stack on a VPS w/ secure comms routed over WireGuard to my NAS. Modular. Private. No Google. No Microsoft. Still mine.

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Owen, DSc, PhD Student @theravenswood.bsky.social · 26/04/2025

I've been working through getting my mail server back up. Locked down relaying, worked through spam management, currently working on geo-filtering and auto sorting. Recently I heard about Discord going public, so I'm likely to depart that space soon. Blarg! #SelfHosting #MailServer #DataSovereignty

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Owen, DSc, PhD Student @theravenswood.bsky.social · 19/04/2025

#pathfinder2e Played our weekly PF2E game last night. 3 yrs into a planned 5 yr campaign and I still enjoy playing my Amnesiac Magus/Ranger pirate - Washe Seasever. Foul-mouthed family first scallywag. Hates artifacts, undead, and the Grath (fictional) family. #ttrpg

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Owen, DSc, PhD Student @theravenswood.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

#selfhosting Got my NAS successfully proxied behind my VPS! Learned a ton about Traefik and LXCs. Fixed a mail relay misconfig (they boosted my monthly amount too!), and spun up a private Foundry VTT instance for my Pathfinder GM. Productive night! Next is Spacebar and Nextcloud.

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Owen, DSc, PhD Student @theravenswood.bsky.social · 13/04/2025

#selfhosting Rebuilt my email server from scratch—mostly smooth, but forgot to restrict relaying. Woke up to a maxed-out SMTP relay from spam abuse. Pulled the logs, shut it down fast. Lessons learned: always lock down relays early.

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Owen, DSc, PhD Student @theravenswood.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

[ #cybersecurity ] LotL cyber-deception uses existing tools to blur the line between real and fake activity, making detection harder for attackers. CTI reports show this CVE is currently being exploited. Here are some key LotL cyber-deception techniques for defense:

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Owen, DSc, PhD Student @theravenswood.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

[ #Selfhosting ] Well my first foray into hosting my email failed, miserably. Email would go out, but incoming wouldn't make it to the mailbox causing an automated notification loop between my mail server and the inbound relay. So Sunday I scrapped the build and went back to the drawing board.

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Owen, DSc, PhD Student @theravenswood.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

[Self-hosting] So as a part of my self-hosting journey, I've had to engage with Linux terminals. Now, as a professional IT/Cybersecurity person you'd think "oh no big deal" - fun fact, I have very little experience in Linux. Just never had to use the terminal in my career. #selfhosting #cyber

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Owen, DSc, PhD Student @theravenswood.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

[Self-hosting] So the conversation with ISP didn't go as hoped. SMTP is blocked in/out bound and it would be an additional $480/yr to get a static IP (which opens SMTP). I decided to go the VPS route for a fraction of the cost. Finished the VPN setup and will get the relay up tonight. #selfhosting

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Owen, DSc, PhD Student @theravenswood.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

[Self Hosting] Well my self hosted email is ready, just need to chat with Verizon and see if they can allow SMTP through, may have to shift to a business account. As I wait for that I have fully removed myself from Meta (so called) services. Killed my very little used Snapchat account...

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Owen, DSc, PhD Student @theravenswood.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

[Gaming] My experience of mid-adulthood, while also being just unnecessary, its surprisingly difficult to build and maintain friendships. To help myself with this challenge I started to actively engage those people in my life I want to hang with. My primary weapon - Gaming.

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Owen, DSc, PhD Student @theravenswood.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

[Self-Hosting] So, as a part of entering into my "Old Man Era", I've decided to do what I can to take control of my data. This mostly involves divesting myself of Google, Microsoft, and Mass Social Media; also (potentially) using DeleteMe. I've recently begun to start with the Social Media...

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Owen, DSc, PhD Student @theravenswood.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

[Professional Life] So much of my work revolves around developing more rigorous science around cybersecurity. Interestingly (and frustratingly) cybersecurity is more artform than I think most people realize.

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Owen, DSc, PhD Student @theravenswood.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

Welp, this is likely to be my primary social media app. The $$-grubby mass social media machine has become a vitriolic cesspool and, in my opinion, is one of the fundamental reasons the U.S. is where it is today.

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Owen, DSc, PhD Student @theravenswood.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

This beautiful girl gave us a scare a couple months back. We weren't sure if she would still be with us. Now here we are. She's definitely feeling her 14 years of age. But she's in good spirits, still tries to chase those squirrels, and loves her humans.

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Owen, DSc, PhD Student @theravenswood.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

#SteamFallSale how much pain are you inflicting on the bank account? 😊

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Owen, DSc, PhD Student @theravenswood.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

I'm looking to consolidate my family's data into a home NAS (Personal Cloud). I've looked at Synology's DS software and it has a lot of options to bring nearly everything in-house. Anyone have experience doing this? It's been a long time since I configured a server. #tech #controlmydata

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Owen, DSc, PhD Student @theravenswood.bsky.social · 17/11/2024

Wow a significant batch of new followers. Hey all, welcome aboard. Let's see if we can make social media tolerable again 😊.

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Owen, DSc, PhD Student @theravenswood.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

So, I know the federated social media thing has been around a bit, but it feels like peeps are finally ready to really jump in and work with it. So what are some other federated social apps that are going around?

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Owen, DSc, PhD Student @theravenswood.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

Just sharing some of my personal favorite photos I've taken.

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Owen, DSc, PhD Student @theravenswood.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

It looks like the mass influx of users is testing the system. If you see "Invalid Handle", I think you can ignore, for now. Let me know if you learn otherwise.

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Reposted by Owen, DSc, PhD Student

Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

Agreed, morning vibes. 💤

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