NYPHP group meeting - Security and tamper proof URLs

So yesterday was my first time attending NYPHP group meeting in the IBM building. They were not kidding when they said that people should be there 6:30pm sharp. I came in like 5 minutes late and already missed a bunch of slides.

Some summary items:
* HMAC is used to tamper proof URLs.
* Don't use PEAR Crypt_HMAC it's bad/buggy.
* PHP5.1.2 has new "hash" extension that has hash_hmac() function written in C. For older versions they claim you can grab and compile extension from PECL.
* To use HMAC you need to pass at least 2 parameters in your URL: your message (or normal parameter) and then the hmac verification code. If you passing in >1 parameter then you need to HMAC ALL of the parameters.
* I was really curious about single sign-on stuff which I guess could be a topic for the next meeting.

I am really starting to enjoy these little get togethers. It's also a great way to meet people in the community. Looking towards the other meetings.

Update: The slides have been posted by the presenter here: http://modp.com/slides/securestring/

P.S. There's a tech party coming up in like two weeks.

Gena01