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519: The Password Is All Zeros

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Release Date: 01/23/2026

519: The Password Is All Zeros show art 519: The Password Is All Zeros

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Mark Omo and James Rowley spoke with us about safecracking, security, and the ethics of doing a bad job. Mark and James gave an excellent talk on the development of their safecracking tools at . It included a section of interaction involving the lock maker’s lawyers bullying them and how the Electronic Frontier Foundation () has a to support security research. As mentioned in the show, the US Cyber Trust Mark baseline has a very straightforward checklist; is the overall standard, is the technical checklist, is the non-technical (process/maintenance) checklist. Roughly the process is...

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James Cameron spoke with us about programming for and operating a large telescope. The show is a blend of astronomy, engineering on the fly, and weird lady bug habitats.  The (AAT) is part of the Australian National University’s in Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Australia.  The AAT has an where you can check in on a very dark sky.  James was on where we talked about the Forth programming language and his experiences with One Laptop Per Child.  Unrelated to the AAT, Chris took this image of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) from his over 9 hours (multiple days), stacking...

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Nathan Jones and Chris Svec give Chris and Elecia their 2025 performance review.  Donations went to , an organization that provides funding and support to low-income and first-generation college students as well as free STEM tutoring for underserved schools.  Embedded has already sent in the for a total of over $5000.  Here is . We mentioned the , a small but mighty microscope. Also, mentioned was the book The show this week is sponsored by us. And you. Please consider on or . Or tell a friend about the show.

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Sophi Kravitz joined us to talk about art, science, and engineering.  You can see on Sophi’s website ). A subset of the artwork had a short stay for a demo at . The completed work will be shown in 2026. Sophi mentioned collaborating with two sonic environment artists and . is an ionizing radiation detector. move through space at nearly the speed of light, generally originating far away and long ago. You can also see them in a We also talked about using sculpting in Blender (there are many online video introductions). Sophi does EE consulting and system quality checking...

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Nick Kartsioukas joined us to talk about security in embedded systems.  Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) is the primary database to check your software libraries, tools, and OSs: . Open Worldwide Application Security Project (OWASP, ) has information on how to improve security in all kinds of applications, including . There are also cheatsheets, Nick particularly recommends .  Wait, what is supply chain security? Nick suggested a : it is about your code and tools including firmware update, a common weak point in embedded device security. Want to try out some security work?...

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Philip Koopman joined us to talk about embedded systems becoming embodied and intelligent. We focus on the safety considerations of making an intelligent and embodied device.  Phil’s new book is . It uses robotaxis as an example as it discusses safety, security, human/computer interface, AI, and a bit of legal theory for tort negligence. If you’d like a taster, Phil gave a wonderful summary in his video: This new book is intended for a wider (less devotedly technical) audience than his book . Phil was last on the show in episode where we spoke about his book   Thank you! ...

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Jason Turner of C++ Weekly and Empty Crate spoke with us about the joy of puzzles, the changing directions of an interesting career, and the C++ programming language. I mean, of course we talked about C++. But only a little.  Jason recently published , a book of puzzles for the logically minded. It teaches programming concepts as engaging puzzles: recursion, binary, assembly, Lisp, regular expressions. You may not know what you are learning but you’ll likely find you know a lot more about how computers work afterward.  For the puzzles, paper is better than electronic. But you can...

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Katherine “Smalls” Connell spoke with us about making thin and flexible circuits, making stretchable electronics, and running a successful Kickstarter. Katherine’s Kickstarter: . Katherine shares her makes, describing her build process for companion robots and other projects. You can find her as The Small Wonder on and . She often goes by Smalls on other social media.  We talked about a paper on making stretchable circuits: . If you’re interested in how 3D printing is changing design engineering, Mouser Electronics has some great resources to check out. Their Empowering...

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Chris and Elecia talk about the show overflowing to another bit, fight over vim vs nano, consider awards, discuss writing (and self-motivation), consider linear algebra on AI cores, encourage remote device quality assurance, describe design documentation, review timer multipliers, and consider changing chip vendors. Support the show and get goodies: and   book (currently on chapter 8 and working through the ) Not mentioned but related to the Cozy Science announcement: Elecia found , a 10-episode podcast that is nicely soothing and science. If you’re interested in how 3D printing is...

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Christina Cyr spoke with us about building cell phones, entrepreneurship, social purpose corporations, awards, lithium recycling, and her interesting career path.  We talked about Christina’s , the related kit from dTOOR, and her . We also mentioned in the section about . There is a great paper from Nature about lithium-ion battery recycling:   (formerly AngelList) is a startup focused job site that may lead to non-fulltime positions. may help you figure out is the startup has capital (also thought that generally has a cost). and the The quote was from and it was a...

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More Episodes

Mark Omo and James Rowley spoke with us about safecracking, security, and the ethics of doing a bad job.

Mark and James gave an excellent talk on the development of their safecracking tools at DEF CON 33: Cash, Drugs, and Guns: Why Your Safes Aren't Safe. It included a section of interaction involving the lock maker’s lawyers bullying them and how the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has a Coders’ Rights Project to support security research.

As mentioned in the show, the US Cyber Trust Mark baseline has a very straightforward checklist; NISTIR 8259 is the overall standard, NISTIR 8259A is the technical checklist, NISTIR 8259B is the non-technical (process/maintenance) checklist. Roughly the process is NISTIR 8259 -> Plan/Guidance; NISTIR 8259A -> Build; NISTIR 8259B -> Support.

We discussed ETSI EN 303 645 V3.1.3 (2024-09) Cyber Security for Consumer Internet of Things: Baseline Requirement and the EU’s CRA: Cyber Resilience Act which requires manufacturers to implement security by design, have security by default, provide free security updates, and protect confidentiality. See more here: How to prepare for the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA): A guide for manufacturers.

We didn’t mention Ghidra in the show specifically, but it is a tool for reverse engineering software: given a binary image, what was the code?

Some of the safecracking was helped by the lock maker using the same processor in the PS4 which has many people looking to crack it. See fail0verflow :: PS4 Aux Hax 1: Intro & Aeolia for an introduction. 

Mark and James have presented multiple times at Hardwear.io, a series of conferences and webinars about security (not wearables). Some related highlights: