One of the major difficulties in explaining anything cryptographic, among many other things, is what I call “Acry-phobia” which is fear of cryptographic acronyms. This is a justified condition. Acryphobia is far from irrational because in cryptography (since it is math) every little thing and the relationships between them must be defined, specified, examined, theorized, tested, formulated, […]
The Internet of Things (IoT), as noted in previous Bits & Pieces articles, is really just a concept at this point because the “things” are undefined. As those “things” become more defined, the IoT’s things stop being just things and become something. So, the main question right now: What are those things going to be? Perhaps the IoT […]
The thing about passwords is that their whole purpose is to provide security. But passwords are hardly secure themselves, as we all know now due to the recent string of breaches… Once passwords get out into the clear, it’s like Christmas for cyber-criminals. So what we need are secure passwords… obviously. Passwords are big fat target for hackers. […]
A talented Maker by the name of Taylor Alexander, co-founder of Flutter Wireless, has recently gained a large amount of support for the company’s innovative wireless electronics development platform based on Arduino. No novice to DIY, Taylor has spent a life of hacking, making and transfiguring things to have them do all sorts of different actions than these […]
The act of authentication is very straightforward. Essentially, it is making sure that something is real. There are two parts to authentication: Identification Confirmation of identity Authentication in the “crypto-verse” typically happens on a host and client basis where the host wants to ensure that a client is real. A typical use case occurs when a […]
If we wanted to reduce the definition of authentication to its most Zen-like simplicity, we could say authentication is “keeping things real.” To keep something real you need to have some sort of confirmation of its identity, as confirmation is the key (so to speak). The equation could be as follows: Identification + Confirmation = Authentication Confirming […]
When considering adding cryptography to an embedded system (or any other information system) manufacturers always ask: “Why do I need cryptography?” That is, unless they have already been burned by a security breach. The answer is quite simple: “Because you have a lot to lose and the dangers are multiplying every day.” Perhaps some of the closest analogies are […]
The Heartbleed security bug is a really big deal, especially given today’s hyper-connected, information obsessed society. This nasty bug, which has been characterized as “catastrophic” by industry gurus, permits anyone on the Internet to access the memory of systems using various versions of OpenSSL software. This is ironic since that very software was specifically designed to protect […]
Authentication means making sure that something is real, just like it sounds. In the real world, authentication has many uses. One of the most recognizable is anti-counterfeiting, which means validating the authenticity of a removable, replaceable, or consumable client. Examples include system accessories, electronic daughter cards and spare parts. Of course, authentication is also employed to validate software and firmware […]
Atmel’s Mobile Training Center is heading to Las Vegas Nevada on March 26th and EE Live! in San Jose in early April. We’ll be at the McEnery Convention Center on 150 W San Carlos on Tuesday, April 1 – Thursday, April 3, showcasing a wide variety of tech across a number of spaces including touch, security, microcontrollers (MCUs), wireless, lighting and automotive. More specifically, you can […]
