Day: May 17, 2023

Two Factor Authentication Apps: Mistakes To Malware

May 17, 2023 by 58 Comments

Everyone in security will tell you need two-factor authentication (2FA), and we agree. End of article? Nope. The devil, as always with security, is in the details. Case in point: in the last few weeks, none less than Google messed up with their Google Authenticator app. The security community screamed out loud, and while it’s not over yet, it looks like Google is on the way to fixing the issue.

Since 2FA has become a part of all of our lives – or at least it should – let’s take a quick dip into how it works, the many challenges of implementing 2FA correctly, what happened with Google Authenticator, and what options you’ve got to keep yourself safe online.

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Mythic I: An Exploration Of Artisanal Computing

May 17, 2023 by 14 Comments

While computers have become ever faster and more capable over the years, it’s hard to say they’ve become any more exciting. In fact, they’ve become downright boring. Desktop, laptop, or mobile, they’re all more or less featureless slabs of various dimensions. There’s not even much in the way of color variation — the classic beige box is now available with white, black, or metallic finishes.

Believing that such a pedestrian appearance isn’t befitting a device that puts the world’s collected knowledge at our fingertips, [Keegan McNamara] started exploring a more luxurious approach to computing. Gone is the mass produced injection molded plastic, in its place is hand-carved maple and Tuscan leather. Common computing form factors are eschewed entirely for a swooping console inspired by fine furniture and classic sports cars. The final result, called the Mythic I, is equal parts art and science. Not just a bold reimaging of what a computer can be, but an object to be displayed and discussed. Continue reading “Mythic I: An Exploration Of Artisanal Computing” →

Cornering The Antenna Market

May 17, 2023 by 21 Comments

Sometimes antennas can seem like black magic. However, when you see things like a dish antenna, it sort of makes sense, right? Just like a mirror focuses light, the parabola of a dish focuses RF energy. But [IMSAI Guy] shows another common-sense antenna arrangement: a corner reflector dipole. He had built one years ago and decided to do a bit of research and make another one.

In a clever use of copper-clad board, he was able to make a reasonable reflector by soldering together three boards and an RF connector. A single wire makes the “driven element,” and by bending it to just the right position, you can change the characteristic impedance for matching.

The antenna, in this case, is essentially a quarter-wave antenna with a ground plane and reflector arrangement. After the obligatory chalk talk, he breaks out the vector network analyzer and shows how well it matches. He didn’t, however, measure the gain or directional selectivity due to the reflector.

Intuitively, you’d think this kind of antenna would be good for direction finding purposes. In fact, hams that use handy talkies for direction finding often use their bodies to block signals, much like these reflectors should.

The [IMSAI Guy] reflector is pretty small, but you can easily make bigger ones. Using PCB material for antennas isn’t anything new, either, but we still enjoyed this simple corner reflector build.

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