 Let's say for a moment that you're the kind of person who takes cyber security super serial. You use a password manager with, multi-factor everything, you keep all your programs and operating systems up to date, and you're constantly keeping a vigilant eye out for phishing attacks. That is all really good stuff that we should actually all do. But none of it will do you a bit of good if an attacker actually gets your hardware in their hands. Like, physically. That is, unless you're using a tamper-proof Orwell computer from DesignShift. A PC that needs a password and a fob just to boot up, and that apparently will disable itself permanently if we mess with it. Challenge accepted, by the way. Speaking of challenges, this was a challenging segue to EKWaterBlocks. Phoenix lineup is their next-generation high-performance all-in-one cooler. Check it out now at the link in the video description. Named for George Orwell, every one of these tiny, yet shockingly heavy little machines has its own unique encryption key. One that is totally unknown even to the manufacturer, DesignShift. It's a time-rotating RSA 4096 key. So that is over 4,000 bits long, and what it means is that it is practically impossible to brute force. So for reference, the largest RSA number that's ever been factored was only 768 bits long, and that took hundreds of computers over two years to figure out. Now this encryption key is not stored in main memory or on the self-encrypting SSD, but rather in a security microcontroller that only exposes it briefly when a user is authenticated, like as you're booting up. As for how to authenticate, well, two-factor, of course. Orwell comes with two special key fobs that must be scanned on the machine before you'll even be prompted to enter your numeric password using Orwell's OLED display. And only then does the machine boot up, and then you will still need to enter credentials for Windows, Ubuntu, Cubes OS, or whatever. Your fobs use NFC for the initial setup, then once they're paired, the Java card applet on the fob that's responsible for pairing is actually deleted, and from then on, the fobs communicate their distance from Orwell over encrypted low-energy Bluetooth, and the machine will actually lock down if you get more than 10 meters away. In lockdown mode, Orwell's ports, that's two 5 gigabit USB type Cs for power and peripherals, and a mini HDMI for the display, are shut off, so no one can plug in their Stuxnet flash drive or boot the computer using an external device, and the CPU is put to sleep. That is, unless the mainboard secure MCU's three axis accelerometers and gyroscopes detect movement, at which time it will actually be powered completely off, forcing a potential hacker to build their lab around the machine, rather than carrying it away to be prodded at in privacy. Okay then, Linus, what if I go around the MCU by freezing it with a spray refrigerant? Ha! Well, since the MCU also monitors for drastic temperature changes, freezing it will actually result in Orwell destroying the encryption key. And even if you could freeze the RAM, for example, which typically retains information for a few seconds after being powered down, you'd have a hard time reading anything from it because it is soldered onto the board, and going at it the other way isn't an option either. The boot sequence is designed to wipe the RAM before post, to prevent attackers from somehow inserting code into the memory during boot. I mean, most of that stuff though is kind of hypothetical anyway, because you probably would never get that far. The entire system is physically tamper-proof, and I'm not talking about a handful of pressure sensors that you can just drill holes around and disable. No, no. The entire system. In addition to the mainboard MCU and the MCU and the fob, the system is wrapped in a conductive die shield with multiple pressure switches and a wire mesh barrier. This protects against physical ingress and certain side channel attacks, like over-the-air power analysis, since no meaningful power leakage will make it through the die shield, and if you disturb any of that stuff, the encryption key gets nuked. And all of this works even without Orwell being plugged in, since the mainboard MCU's onboard battery can actually last for several months. Now, to be clear, security features like this have been around for years in some industries, but DesignShift's pitch is that they're delivering bank-level information security for everyone, without changing the overall user experience. And they're actually mostly there. The fobs are a little too bulky right now, in my opinion, and while they are rechargeable over micro USB, they lack a battery indicator light, so when they die and your Orwell locks down, you're gonna have a bad time, but once you're logged into Orwell, it behaves just like a regular computer, as advertised. So that's really cool, but I still think their audience will end up being somewhat limited. The Orwell breezed through our thermal tests, staying relatively quiet, without throttling, but even the top-tier model sticks you with a mobile processor, 8 gigs of RAM, and integrated graphics. And that's at three times the cost of a similarly specced tablet computer. To be clear, that could be considered cheap, compared to some of the other options that are out there, and there are definitely going to be customers for this tech. But I just have to wonder if the next step for design shift has to be a notebook, to give extra flexibility to anyone who wants to take his or her secure computing on the road. Alright then, with all that out of the way, let's see if we can lose our data. After this message from TunnelBear! TunnelBear is the simple VPN app that makes it easy to browse privately and enjoy a more open internet. With TunnelBear turned on, your Wi-Fi connection is secured, and your online activity is kept private from your internet provider, advertisers, and anyone else looking to track you or profit from your data. TunnelBear has a top-rated privacy policy and does not log your activity, so go try TunnelBear for free, with no credit card required, at tunnelbear.com slash LTT. We're going to have that linked below. 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