A decade of software testing, how it all started

When you are having fun time flies!
Well, you could say that with me concerning software testing.
And I am a fun-loving tester now for ten years, a decade of adventure!
How did it all start?

Ten years ago I got the idea to become a software tester.
Pretty strange at that time because I just finished a Masters in Biology at the Wageningen University and Research Centre (WageningenUR) and was destined to become a bioinformatician.
However, specific events led me to this decision:

1. I always was intrigued by computers: birds were my first love, but computers my second
2. A summerjob introduced me to the world of softwaretesting: I had to test a time-planning application for truckers, exploratory tessting to the max!!
3. 10 years ago biology was more in the DNA labs than behind the computer
4. I did not want to be a programmer:. I can build, but I like breaking more!

So I wanted to earn money, use my brain and get some business experience.

Softwaretesting is then not a bad career move:

you get a nice salary, you have to think a lot and you explore different businesses.

When I was studying biology, I would have never thinked of working at a bank, a logistics company or a mbile security firm. Or spending your free evenings and nights exploring XMLs, identity protocols or forensic software.

And still I find enough time to explore testing adventures abroad.

Sometimes a bumpy ride, but with enough fun time.

Well, it's a jungle out there, and it's survival of the fittest, but this guy adapts and sometimes he wins.

Let's see how the next decade goes.

I am ready to go, are you?

Made in Japan: Homomorphic encryption biometrics style!

The last weeks I am blogging, writing articles and social networking about homomorphic encryption.
This all started when reading the news Fujitsu Labs Ltd. wants to implement a DNA read- and processtechnology using homomorphic encryption where encrypted genetic data can be read without decrypting it.
Great news for a software tester with a bioinformatics background and privacy at heart!

Fujitsu Labs claims it can ensure privacy by encrypting the query , the data and the searchresults, so a possible third party (read pharmaceutical company etc.) can't see to which person the DNA data belongs to.
But, homomorphic encryption is a slow process, how does Fujitsu cope with this?
They have 2 solutions:
The first is that the searches are in batchmode (16K per second) and second is that the search already starts when encrypting the data.
Cool stuff, but still questions pop up in my mind: is the encryption undecryptable for hackers, is the performance really 16K strings per second (performance tes(t!)), are the search results correct and can the data be tampered with with for instance Man in the Middle Attacks?
Questions I like to see answered and I wait until more news emerges.
Implementation is set in 2015. Let's see what happens and how the competition will deal with this.

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