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Mandiant’s latest annual threat report reveals data on how financially motivated cyber criminals, such as ransomware gangs, dominate the cyber security landscape

Computer Weekly Feed - Thu, 04/24/2025 - 5:15am
Mandiant’s latest annual threat report reveals data on how financially motivated cyber criminals, such as ransomware gangs, dominate the cyber security landscape
Categories: Computer Weekly

Ask HN: Built my own license key system, now facing the pricing dilemma

Hacker News - Thu, 04/24/2025 - 4:57am

Like many developers here, I've wrestled with the "build vs. buy" decision for various infrastructure pieces. Recently, I needed a license key system for a project. Looking at options like keygen.sh, I found the pricing models... well, let's just say they felt steep, especially for smaller projects or indie devs.

Driven by that frustration (and maybe a bit of NIH syndrome), I decided to roll my own: https://keymint.dev

It handles key generation, validation, and some basic management. It scratched my own itch, and frankly, building it was a fun challenge, touching on aspects seen in many HN discussions over the years – crypto security (Generating Cryptographically Secure License Keys), management (Ask HN: How do you manage license keys?), and the general complexities involved.

Now comes the ironic part. After sinking significant time into making it robust, I'm considering putting a price tag on it to support ongoing development and hosting. And suddenly, I feel like I'm becoming the very thing I initially reacted against.

Looking through past HN threads about license keys confirms this isn't a simple problem:

* There's a clear need (many "Ask HN" posts on how to manage/generate keys). * Security and avoiding cracked/forged keys is paramount (*Man charged for selling forged license keys*, *Pentester found Steam bug*). * Reliance on third-party services can be risky (*Tell HN: DigitalRiver/MyCommerce stopped paying vendors*). * Monetization itself is a recurring question for tool creators (*Ask HN: (How) Should I monetize this?*). So, before I go down the path of potentially becoming "another expensive licensing service," I wanted to put keymint.dev out to the HN community.

I'd genuinely appreciate it if some of you would be willing to kick the tires:

* Does it solve a real problem for you? * How does it compare (functionally, usability-wise) to other tools you've used or considered? * What features are missing? * And yes, eventually – what *would* feel like fair pricing, avoiding the "outrageous" levels that pushed me to build this in the first place? You can sign up and try it out at: https://keymint.dev

I'm here to answer questions and looking forward to any feedback – harsh or kind! I want to see if this thing I built actually provides value before figuring out how to sustain it without repeating the cycle I disliked.

Thanks!

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43780593

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

Categories: Hacker News

Blue Shield of California Data Breach Impacts 4.7 Million People

Security Week - Thu, 04/24/2025 - 4:55am

Blue Shield of California says a website misconfiguration exposed the health information of its members to Google.

The post Blue Shield of California Data Breach Impacts 4.7 Million People appeared first on SecurityWeek.

Categories: SecurityWeek

Going Out with a Bang

Hacker News - Thu, 04/24/2025 - 4:51am
Categories: Hacker News

Nucular

Hacker News - Thu, 04/24/2025 - 4:50am
Categories: Hacker News

Gravastar

Hacker News - Thu, 04/24/2025 - 4:43am
Categories: Hacker News

Beyond the Last Horizon

Hacker News - Thu, 04/24/2025 - 4:38am
Categories: Hacker News

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