🐍 Foundry Toolkit for VS Code — One extension, every model: OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and local Ollama, side by side.

🔩 MEMSEC – DEFCON901: Hardware Reverse Engineering 101 — Physical access changes everything: tear down embedded devices and find the vulnerabilities hiding in the firmware.

🚩 Explore Software Development: Capture the Flag — No coding background needed, just curiosity — two hours to hack your way into software development.

🧠 Memphis AI Meetup: Free Weekly AI Conversations — Thirty minutes, no pitch deck, just what's actually working with AI right now.

🛠️ Midsouth Makers Weekly Friday Open House — Circuits, code, and half-finished builds — Memphis makers, every Friday.

💻 Code Connector: Code and Share — Bring what you're building; leave with feedback from people who get it.

🔒 MFA — Two keys are better than one. Add a second layer of proof and lock down your digital life.

by Code Connector

July 4 — 1PM (Virtual)

June 29 — 6:00pm (Virtual)

This session walks through the Foundry Toolkit for VS Code, the extension that lets developers test and deploy AI apps against OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and local Ollama models side by side. Douglas S. demos how to evaluate models and ship working agents to Microsoft Foundry. Useful groundwork before your next AI integration call.

July 1— 5:30pm (In-person)

Two hours to hack, search, and git your way through a beginner-friendly Capture the Flag built by CodeCrew. No coding background required, just curiosity and a laptop. Walk away having touched file systems, web internals, text editors, and version control the way working developers actually use them daily.

July 3 — 5pm CDT (In-Person)

Physical access changes everything. Bhargab Acharya returns to walk DEFCON901 through the tools and techniques used to tear apart embedded devices — identifying components, tracing data flows, and finding the vulnerabilities hiding beneath the firmware layer. If IoT security, hardware hacking, or embedded systems are anywhere on your radar, this is the session that builds the mental model most security practitioners never get. Free, open to the public, held at the FedEx Institute of Technology at UofM — and Garibaldi's pizza is in.

July 04 — 1:00PM (Virtual)

Bring what you're building. Code & Share gives technologists a low-pressure room to demo projects, practice explaining technical work clearly, and learn from how peers solve problems. Hosted by JC Smiley, it's a virtual stop for anyone who wants to stay connected to Memphis tech without a polished pitch.

July 3 — 7:00pm (In-Person)

Every Friday, the Midsouth Makers space fills with people tinkering, building, and trading hobbies. Electronics, woodworking, whatever's on the bench that week. Hosted by HackerMane, it's a standing invitation to see what the makerspace is building, pick up a new skill, or just hang out with fellow nerds who get it.

July 2 — 9:15am (In-Person)

Thirty minutes, no pressure, just real talk about what's actually working with AI in day-to-day workflows. Scott Finney leads this open, weekly conversation at Cooper House Project for anyone exploring automation. Beginners and experts trade insights and build momentum for Memphis's AI community, one short conversation at a time.

MFA

Now that your passwords are all managed and safely locked away, you might feel like your accounts are invincible. If only it were that easy. While a unique, complex password is a massive leap forward, a username and password combo is still a single point of failure. I'd love to discuss the weaknesses of traditional credential systems in a future article, but for now, let's focus on how to add a second layer of protection: Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA).

The core idea of MFA (sometimes called 2FA) is simple: instead of relying on one single "key," you require at least two different types of proof to let you in. In the security world, we generally look at four distinct categories: something you know, something you have, something you are, and some**where** you are.

Your password falls squarely into the bucket of something you know.  However, it’s a common mistake to think "security questions" count as a second factor. They don't. If you use your password as factor one, and the name of your first pet as factor two, an attacker who finds you on social media can easily guess both. If you know it, a clever hacker can eventually know it, too.

Next is something you have. This is often where people start their MFA journey. A great example is your smartphone; by receiving a verification code via text or—even better—using an Authenticator app, you prove that you physically possess a specific device. There are also FIDO2/U2F hardware security keys, which are often considered "unbreakable"; these are tiny USB/NFC devices you plug into your machine. They offer incredible security with a small cost of convenience (having another physical item to carry and manage across different devices).

Then, there is something you are. This relies on biometrics, the biological "fingerprints" that make you unique. This could be a fingerprint scan, facial recognition (FaceID), or an iris scan. While some might argue that a DNA test would be the ultimate biometric, thankfully, most login screens aren't yet equipped to take blood samples.

Finally, there is somewhere you are. This uses your physical location, determined via GPS or IP address, to verify your identity. The idea is that if you always log in from London, a login attempt from Singapore should trigger an alarm. However, this method has a notable weakness: location data can be spoofed or faked. Because of this, you’re more likely to encounter "geoblocking"—where a service prevents access based on your perceived location—rather than using location as a reliable way to grant access.

Passkeys and going passwordless is also all the rage these days, plus I’m sure you still wanna know about how password exploits happen (and what to do about them). Stay tuned for our upcoming articles to learn more! If you have your own infosec questions, don't hesitate to reach out to Hackermane!

Guest Writer: Hackermane is a hacker in Memphis. Learn more or hang out: https://hackermane.com/

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