Have you thought about moving your computing into the Cloud?

This episode takes a look at a real-world adventure that Jim went through when moving his computing infrastructure from purchased servers in a rented rack in a datacenter to a VM Running in a cloud service provider using Docker, Linux, managed PostgreSQL. He covers the steps he took to get there, how it's going, the good stuff and the challenges in making it work.

Show notes:

Cloud service providers:

• https://portal.azure.com
• https://aws.amazon.com/
• https://cloud.google.com/

Technologies used:

• https://www.postgresql.org/
• https://www.docker.com/community/open-source/
• https://www.haproxy.org/
• https://github.com

Hosts:

Jim McQuillan can be reached at [email protected]
Wolf can be reached at [email protected]

Follow us on Mastodon: @[email protected]

Theme music:

Dawn by nuer self, from the album Digital Sky

There are many scams, some to get your password(s), some just for money.  Join us as Wolf tells everything he knows and together we discuss a new way to protect your online accounts.

Show notes:

Lists of login methods:

• https://testdriven.io/blog/web-authentication-methods/ 
• https://www.logintc.com/types-of-authentication/

Who implements Passkeys?

• https://www.passkeys.com/websites-with-passkey-support-sites-directory
• https://fidoalliance.org/passkeys-directory/
• https://www.keepersecurity.com/passkeys-directory/

The three things that come together to make passkeys:

• Using key pairs, like SSH: https://www.ssh.com/academy/ssh/public-key-authentication
• Biometric authentication, you're already used to it from your phone
• New User Interface "ceremonies"

Which password managers support passkeys?

• 1Password (our personal favorite)
• Bitwarden
• Dashlane
• Google Password Manager
• Keeper
• NordPass
• RoboForm

A little about password managers:

Almost any password manager is better than no password manager at all so do your research. Find the best one for you. Make sure it answers these questions:

• Does it run on all the platforms you care about?
• Does it have a pricing model you like?
• Does it use a cloud service, or not, or of your choice, in a way that you like?
• Does the password service itself have access to your keys?
• What kind of secrets can it keep?
• Passkey descriptions and implementation documents
  • The FIDO alliance: https://fidoalliance.org/passkeys/
  • Google (for developers): https://developers.google.com/identity/passkeys/developer-guides
  • Apple (for developers): https://developer.apple.com/passkeys/

Wolf's top three personal digital security recommendations

• Use a password manager (it should support passkeys).  See above.
  • Once you create a passkey for a specific service; change your previous password. The new one should be generated by your password manager and you should never use it unless you absolutely must.
• Make sure your device is secure
  • Use biometric authentication
  • Have a strong password.  Your password manager can generate one made from words.  Easy to remember; hard to guess.
  • Make sure you know how to force your device to require a password.  You can be tricked or forced to authenticate biometrically.  Law enforcement can't force you to reveal a password; and if you're careful, you can't be tricked out of it.
• Be aware of your surroundings.  Bad actors can "shoulder surf" and get your password, or cameras. It's just like the old days at the ATM.  You don't want a person right behind you to see your PIN.

Hosts:

Jim McQuillan can be reached at [email protected]
Wolf can be reached at [email protected]

Follow us on Mastodon: @[email protected]

Theme music:

Dawn by nuer self, from the album Digital Sky