<![CDATA[Here's my summary of why websites are offline right now, and why nerds are laughing at the number 4.]]>Here's my summary of why websites are offline right now, and why nerds are laughing at the number 4.

I've attempted to explain the jargon in use, so those interested but not working in tech have a chance at understanding what's going on.

https://natgray.co.uk/blog/why-websites-are-offline-and-nerds-are-laughing-at-the-number-4/

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/topic/a4ad33e6-8df6-4fd6-b0fc-365da0812ad8/here-s-my-summary-of-why-websites-are-offline-right-now-and-why-nerds-are-laughing-at-the-number-4.RSS for NodeFri, 23 Oct 2026 13:32:34 GMTWed, 21 Oct 2026 18:54:28 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Here's my summary of why websites are offline right now, and why nerds are laughing at the number 4. on Thu, 22 Oct 2026 06:04:46 GMT]]>@varx @NatGrayYes What mistakes would you have to make to get an ECDSA key to be just '4'?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hsnl.social/users/jwrm22/statuses/117483050505887747https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hsnl.social/users/jwrm22/statuses/117483050505887747Thu, 22 Oct 2026 06:04:46 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Here's my summary of why websites are offline right now, and why nerds are laughing at the number 4. on Thu, 22 Oct 2026 05:59:29 GMT]]>@NatGrayYes TBH yesterday I had no clue how PHP works but I knew exactly where to come to find people who do, bless you and all fedizens 🐘

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodontti.fi/users/KateSotejeffWilson/statuses/117483029742067152https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodontti.fi/users/KateSotejeffWilson/statuses/117483029742067152Thu, 22 Oct 2026 05:59:29 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Here's my summary of why websites are offline right now, and why nerds are laughing at the number 4. on Thu, 22 Oct 2026 01:37:58 GMT]]>@NatGrayYes
Thank you, very much appreciated!

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mstdn.social/users/Cotopaxi/statuses/117482001450398516https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mstdn.social/users/Cotopaxi/statuses/117482001450398516Thu, 22 Oct 2026 01:37:58 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Here's my summary of why websites are offline right now, and why nerds are laughing at the number 4. on Thu, 22 Oct 2026 01:25:28 GMT]]>@jwrm22 @NatGrayYes You're thinking of RSA keys (the primary type of key PGP uses) and the modulus (not the private key).

The eMudhra certs actually used ECDSA, which is a very different cryptosystem not involving products of primes.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://cybersecurity.theater/users/varx/statuses/117481952306277139https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://cybersecurity.theater/users/varx/statuses/117481952306277139Thu, 22 Oct 2026 01:25:28 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Here's my summary of why websites are offline right now, and why nerds are laughing at the number 4. on Wed, 21 Oct 2026 23:28:02 GMT]]>@msbellows these certificates are used to certify individual websites’ certificates and therefore can forge anything

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://chaos.social/ap/users/117059482216823065/statuses/117481490523461157https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://chaos.social/ap/users/117059482216823065/statuses/117481490523461157Wed, 21 Oct 2026 23:28:02 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Here's my summary of why websites are offline right now, and why nerds are laughing at the number 4. on Wed, 21 Oct 2026 23:25:54 GMT]]>@NatGrayYes Thanks for doing this! My remaining question is why eight weak certificates is so bad. Does that affect more than eight websites?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://c.im/users/msbellows/statuses/117481482098087796https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://c.im/users/msbellows/statuses/117481482098087796Wed, 21 Oct 2026 23:25:54 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Here's my summary of why websites are offline right now, and why nerds are laughing at the number 4. on Wed, 21 Oct 2026 22:50:32 GMT]]>@NatGrayYes
Thank you! I was thinking I would have to wait for a video to understand this whole thing (though, I expect and will welcome one from the gang over there).

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/116249643047063678/statuses/117481343037182583https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/116249643047063678/statuses/117481343037182583Wed, 21 Oct 2026 22:50:32 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Here's my summary of why websites are offline right now, and why nerds are laughing at the number 4. on Wed, 21 Oct 2026 20:49:33 GMT]]>@NatGrayYes
4 perfect number for put scurry certificate. Very secure and comfort passkey sleep soundly put 4 in passkey. Put 4 In Passkey. No problems ever put 4 in passkey security certificate because good easy remember support 4 weak security certificate. Can trust 4 for giving good passkey fir scurry. Friend 4.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://kind.social/users/Katzedecimal/statuses/117480867355269403https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://kind.social/users/Katzedecimal/statuses/117480867355269403Wed, 21 Oct 2026 20:49:33 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Here's my summary of why websites are offline right now, and why nerds are laughing at the number 4. on Wed, 21 Oct 2026 19:55:24 GMT]]>@Girgias @NatGrayYes Alright, thanks!✌️

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/remaster/statuses/117480654392332607https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/remaster/statuses/117480654392332607Wed, 21 Oct 2026 19:55:24 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Here's my summary of why websites are offline right now, and why nerds are laughing at the number 4. on Wed, 21 Oct 2026 19:53:33 GMT]]>@remaster @NatGrayYes Yes correct.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://phpc.social/users/Girgias/statuses/117480647098391122https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://phpc.social/users/Girgias/statuses/117480647098391122Wed, 21 Oct 2026 19:53:33 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Here's my summary of why websites are offline right now, and why nerds are laughing at the number 4. on Wed, 21 Oct 2026 19:50:08 GMT]]>@Girgias @NatGrayYes Sorry to nitpick but those are from a third party like sury.org, right? I don’t think debian has official 5.6 packages? 🤔

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/remaster/statuses/117480633727674253https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/remaster/statuses/117480633727674253Wed, 21 Oct 2026 19:50:08 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Here's my summary of why websites are offline right now, and why nerds are laughing at the number 4. on Wed, 21 Oct 2026 19:15:20 GMT]]>@aimaz @NatGrayYes There are plenty of great examples here. I should take notes, and add these to my teaching library.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hsnl.social/users/jwrm22/statuses/117480496876033754https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hsnl.social/users/jwrm22/statuses/117480496876033754Wed, 21 Oct 2026 19:15:20 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Here's my summary of why websites are offline right now, and why nerds are laughing at the number 4. on Wed, 21 Oct 2026 19:10:37 GMT]]>@jwrm22 @NatGrayYes sometimes I tell people I’m not too worried about post-quantum crypto (yet!) because I can factor numbers faster with pencil and paper.

My 10yo just factored 4 into prime factors in about 5 seconds and most of that time was giving me a look to say “why are you asking me?”

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mstdn.social/users/aimaz/statuses/117480478301244529https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mstdn.social/users/aimaz/statuses/117480478301244529Wed, 21 Oct 2026 19:10:37 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Here's my summary of why websites are offline right now, and why nerds are laughing at the number 4. on Wed, 21 Oct 2026 19:04:17 GMT]]>@NatGrayYes To be fair all PGP keys are the multiplication of two prime numbers. But ideally the numbers are not the same, and quite a bit longer. But what is a couple thousand bits difference between friends?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hsnl.social/users/jwrm22/statuses/117480453388001300https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hsnl.social/users/jwrm22/statuses/117480453388001300Wed, 21 Oct 2026 19:04:17 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Here's my summary of why websites are offline right now, and why nerds are laughing at the number 4. on Wed, 21 Oct 2026 18:58:13 GMT]]>@NatGrayYes Debian does have patches for the PHP vunls all the way down to PHP 5.6.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://phpc.social/users/Girgias/statuses/117480429543925648https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://phpc.social/users/Girgias/statuses/117480429543925648Wed, 21 Oct 2026 18:58:13 GMT