Pete's Log: 1.2.3.4

Entry #1933, (Coding, Hacking, & CS stuff)
(posted when I was 42 years old.)

I'm not really sure what this entry is about, but I feel like I need to try to organize some thoughts.

Part 1: password managers

I still haven't committed to a password manager yet. Every so often I set up a KeePass file, and then promptly abandon it. I suppose I am lucky that the way my memory works, I have been able to assign unique (hopefully) strong passwords to my important accounts. But it's also a mental cost that a password manager would help with. I keep reminding myself that if I'm going to trust Debian not to install a keylogger that intercepts my passwords, then I should trust a proper open source password manager as well. Lately the idea of KeePassXC + OwnCloud + KeePassium + YubiKey has appealed to me, but I haven't gotten there yet. But then again, the EFF is telling me maybe I should just keep my passwords in my wallet. Sigh.

Part 2: the firewall

I really have no immediate complaints about the pfSense firewall Brian made me buy. But the whole point of the thing was that it was open source, and lately I've been hearing stories about Netgate that don't exactly give me the warm open source fuzzies. Of course, I suppose it could be worse. But looking for a new firewall solution is on my mind way more than it should be, all things considered.

Part 3: backups

I'm pretty happy with my NAS which I have devices on the network backing up to. But I can't seem to find an off-site backup for the NAS that I'm happy with. I keep waffling between do I trust the cloud providers or don't I. Or should I stash another NAS somewhere and VPN them together and backup that way. Right now I'm opting for the cloud, but it doesn't feel quite right.

Part 4: tying it all together

I guess in summary I have trust issues with the internet. I think in a lot of ways I'm mentally stuck in 1998. But in other ways, I am deeply impacted by the time spent working on IoT solutions at my last job. I saw both the good and the ugly. And there's a lot of ugly out there. I don't really know what my point is. I just want a fancy home network and I don't want it to join a botnet.