4 ms·
Is there any way to generate a new key on the device? What steps can a paranoid user take to mitigate problem (1) above?
by gbacon 8y ago
Is there any way to generate a new key on the device? What steps can a paranoid user take to mitigate problem (1) above?
- tialaramex 8y agoIn principle devices could be designed with the ability to generate a new key. But if you don't trust the hardware how does that help? You may be able to make more of the hardware yourself, depending on how capable you are with electronics. (Much) more expensive devices can implement FIDO while actually using arbitrary new keys for each registration and you could arrange to hand-pick the keys and then verify it behaves as intended and uses your chosen keys.
- crunchatized 8y agoIn the more expensive devices, are the arbitrary new private keys imported from the computer it's plugged into? If the new keys are generated on the hardware you don't trust, it'd still be the same problem, since the private keys could be generated deterministically from a known seed and a counter. You can at least verify when a cheaply-designed device has changed its secret key, because the public key it offers for github.com is different from before, but yeah, that 'new' secret key could still just be derived from a manufacturer-known seed/secret serial number, too, same as the first one was, but with an incremented counter.
- PascLeRasc 8y agoYou can order it on a library computer with a Visa debit card you bought at a grocery store you don't usually go to with cash, and ship it to another address than your own.