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· 6 min read
Jens Langhammer

Face it, it is difficult to write about high tech, IT-based, computer-centric jobs without feeling that a bit of privilege exists in this space. Many of us in the software industry have employers who are sympathetic to, or even promote, the concept of “flex-time” and other enticing perks.

It is a major perk, even a luxury, to not have to clock in at a specific hour and then somehow miraculously wrap up your work and clock out in exactly eight hours. An act as simple as stopping at a pastry shop before work, or taking an extra long morning walk, without fretting about the exact minutes on your watch, is a privilege… but one that IT workers are increasingly insisted on having.

· 13 min read
Jens Langhammer

Back in 2018, I made a fateful decision: I chose to rebuild authentik using Lit and not React.

We like to think that technical decisions are primarily, well, technical, but some of the biggest consequences of these decisions come from how a technology is adopted and used – not the technology itself.

So it was with React.

In this post, I’ll explain why I made this decision, how it did and didn’t pay off, and why, ultimately, I don’t regret it. The point isn’t to sway you toward or away from React or to make an argument about web frameworks in general, but to encourage a discussion about the choices early-stage startups have to make.

· 15 min read
Jens Langhammer

I started authentik in 2018 as an open source hobby project but in 2022, with help from Open Core Ventures, I started Authentik Security, an open core company built around the authentik project.

Building a new startup is, unsurprisingly, quite different from building and maintaining an open source project. With the arrival of funding and the requirement to build a business that could sustain itself now and scale as the company evolved, I had to confront some of the technical choices I made when building authentik – in particular, the choice to build authentik using Python and Django.

The primary reason behind choosing these languages was simple: I knew them well and could write code fast. In retrospect, we know now there was a tradeoff. I was able to code faster but the language itself would eventually impose speed limitations. Python isn’t the slowest language out there but when compared to Node.js and other compiled languages like Go, its speed can seem like a big problem. And Django on top of Python makes it even slower.

And yet, I stand by the decision and as the company has evolved, I think it was a good one. In this post, I’ll explain why this decision was a net positive, the benefits and costs of choosing these languages, and the lessons we learned along the way.

· 5 min read
Jens Langhammer

We all know standards matter, without them we wouldn't have the internet, we wouldn't have computers, and we wouldn't even have electricity. But standards are complex. They need to define edge cases, they need to be explicit but also allow room for implementations to advance and new features to be created. Today we'll dive into the OpenID Connect standard, why it can be challenging to implement and also what makes it, in some ways, easier than other standards.

· 4 min read
Jens Langhammer

The Impact of Cloudflare on the Open Internet


Cloudflare is a popular Content Delivery Network (CDN) that provides a range of services to websites, including performance optimization, security, and privacy. While it has many benefits, there is a growing concern that Cloudflare's influence on the open internet is having a negative impact. In this post, we'll explore the reasons why some people believe that Cloudflare is destroying the open internet.

· 13 min read
Jens Langhammer

“We made a mistake” – so said authentication provider Okta on March 25, 2022 – two months after an attack on one of Okta’s vendors (Sitel, a contact center) in January. During Okta’s initial investigation, the company didn’t warn its customers about the attack nor about its potential damage.

“At that time,” Okta admitted later, “We didn’t recognize that there was a risk to Okta and our customers.”

On March 22, three days before the admission, the group responsible for the attack – LAPSUS$ – shared screenshots online that evidenced the success of their attack. As users, customers, and onlookers reacted, Okta co-founder and CEO Todd McKinnon tweeted about the attack, claiming that the attack was “investigated and contained” but, more controversially, framing the attack as “an attempt.”