6 ms·

NitroPad: Secure Laptop with Tamper Detection

59 points by Manozco 7y ago

mlosapio 7y ago
Is the dm-crypt decryption key stored on the NitroKey with a pin/passphrase to access the key to mount the decrypted the disk?
- JensRantil 7y ago
  From what I understand the key is verifying that BIOS and unencrypted part of disk is unaltered. It is not verifying that any of the encrypted part of the hard drive has been tampered with. As such, it is not storing the hard drive decryption key on the USB stick.
  - josteink 7y ago
    So this is much like UEFI secure-boot then?
    - jans23 7y ago
      Measured boot allows to verify the integrity of the installed firmware (which itself verifies the integrity of the Linux boot partition) by a separate Nitrokey. The idea is that you have your Nitrokey nearby and therefore safe against compromise, other than the laptop which may be left unattended.
byteshock 7y ago
Basically yubikey with storage?
- FerretFred 7y ago
  I like the sound of that...
- szszszsz 7y ago
  This is actually a set of devices. NitroPad is a preconfigured refurbished x230 laptop, with replaced firmware and deactivated IntelME, as well as removed WiFi module on request. With it comes a companion device, Nitrokey Pro or Nitrokey Storage, which takes part in the boot verification process. Together they form a secure workstation. Closest to your description is Nitrokey Storage, which in feature terms is a Nitrokey Pro, but extended with an encrypted storage on an SD card. Disclaimer: I work with Nitrokey.
andy_ppp 7y ago
If I was a government these are the exact sorts of projects I'd set up as a honey pot to tempt people who are doing illegal things to use my pre compromised hardware. How can I trust NitroPad more than another laptop manufacturer? I actually trust this much less.
- ericmay 7y ago
  Potentially, and I saw this comment after clicking the link and my first thought was that this company/laptop looks too generic. Something feels off. Could be wrong. But also don’t care since I’m not in the market for it.
  - arianvanp 7y ago
    That's because they do not produce the laptops. As it says on the website they're modified Lenovo X230 thinkpads. A super common laptop in the enterprise world
    - ericmay 7y ago
      Sure - that’s why I said company/laptop. I should have been more specific, I guess. But pretty much everything about the writing, branding, marketing, and company seem too generic for me.
- bubblethink 7y ago
  If you try to read the article, including the linked projects, it helps a lot rather than broadcasting every nascent thought that pops up in the head to the internet. All the ingredients have been a long time in the making. To summarise, it builds upon coreboot, heads, nitrokey, and me_cleaner, all of which are open source and have been developed by various people in this domain who also know what they are doing. It uses a thinkpad x230 as it is an ivy bridge processor, the last generation of intel processors whose initialisation is open source and well understood. If you would like to read more about this specific combination, you can also read at https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/certified-hardware/#qubes-certified-laptop-insurgo-privacybeast-x230 https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/certified-hardware/#qubes-certi... .
mosselman 7y ago
> The Nitrokey Storage 2 additionally contains an encrypted mass storage with hidden volumes. What use are the hidden volumes if it is already pretty obvious that they will be there? I am pretty sure that whichever party you are trying to protect yourself from with this, will know that a Nitrokey will have hidden volumes.
- szszszsz 7y ago
  The idea is, that hidden volumes cannot be distinguished from a random data, until the correct decryption password is entered. So while the device is capable of having a hidden volume (or more), one cannot prove its existence on device. Disclaimer: I work with Nitrokey.
  - gruez 7y ago
    How does this work with SSDs supporting TRIM? If it's enabled, that large block of space would be erased by the SSD. If you put a large file in its place, that's also suspicious (huge block of random data). If you disable TRIM, also suspicious.
    - szszszsz 7y ago
      Nitrokey Storage uses SD card, which AFAIK does not support TRIM. Before first usage it is overwritten with a random data. Drive is presented to the OS like any regular (non-SSD) flash drive device, hence I do not think OS would issue TRIM on it.
  - mosselman 7y ago
    I get the technology and with a random disk it could make sense: there is no way to prove that there will be a hidden volume. But if you use this with a device that was built to support this, the plausible deniability becomes less believable.
Red_Leaves_Flyy 7y ago
I7 3520m is a 2012 ivy bridge CPU.
- apk-d 7y ago
  It's a surprisingly performant CPU. I've been using an x230 (the slower i5 variant, even) until a year ago and I felt pretty productive with it. In between Intel microcode nerfs and all kinds of software being rewritten into performance-hungry web-based SPAs I wouldn't recommend it in 2020, though.
- szszszsz 7y ago
  That's correct. Hopefully the firmware components it is based upon will support newer platforms in the future. From my understanding that mostly depends on the hardware vendors, which seem to close their solutions, instead of opening them. Anyway, for secure communication (email, IRC, Jabber etc) this hardware will suffice with the current specification. Disclaimer: I work with Nitrokey.
- Kaibeezy 7y ago
  Not surprised at all they chose this hardware. ThinkPad X230 (in my limited and skewed opinion) is still the second best laptop ever made (for purposes like mine), behind only its predecessor, the X220 which has (what I and many others consider) the best laptop keyboard ever made. It’s easy to find one with an i5 that’s perfectly adequate for most ordinary business tasks. Pretty good screen, ports, battery life. Upgradable, sturdy, repairable. Highly unlikely to be stolen. $150 in like new condition. I’ve bought them for all my non-tech friends and family who I support, all are happy. Please buy these and keep the market for parts alive.
  - pixelface 7y ago
    if you're not already aware, swapping the X220 keyboard (and palmrest) onto an X230 is a fairly straightforward swap. That modification plus the FHD mod and accompanying 1920x1080 IPS make the X230 a very nice daily driver.
fit2rule 7y ago
There will always be an abstract layer over which the user cannot/will not observe. Until we mere mortals are capable of growing our own chips in carefully maintained vats, we are always going to be at the mercy of the wizards in their high tower, which represents the computing world today. Computers are simply not something we can safely trust, for as long as they are built from a wide and diverse variety of components, and even then there is not a clear or responsible class of society capable of providing safe audits of silicon designs, without being immediately corruptible. The only ways computing can contribute to trust is when society evolves, hopefully using a bit of computing power along the way, to trust itself inherently. Even these third-party, open-source, audited systems are too untrustworthy. We need complete and open design and manufacture, the entire chain audited along the way, to come even close to having trustworthy systems. With this in mind, I resist efforts of third parties to claim safe/security in their system integration efforts. Please, by all means maintain enthusiasm for the subject, but wake me up when the vat is warming up and the chips are growable, locally ..
- abtinf 7y ago
  > carefully maintained vats We are to assume the firmware running the vats is secure? That they won't be secretly (or openly through legal compulsion) infecting everything they grow? You know, to protect the children.
  - fit2rule 7y ago
    Yeah, the vats need to come with docs, and the kids better know how to read by then.
fghtr 7y ago
See also Librem Key for a free (as in freedom) alternative [0]. [0] https://puri.sm/products/librem-key/ https://puri.sm/products/librem-key/
- szszszsz 7y ago
  We are actually cooperating with Librem Key, developed firmware and hardware they are using [1]. Librem Key is ours Nitrokey Pro. [1] https://www.nitrokey.com/news/2018/nitrokey-partners-purism-build-librem-key https://www.nitrokey.com/news/2018/nitrokey-partners-purism-... Disclaimer: I work with Nitrokey.
_salmon 7y ago
> "The Intel Management Engine (ME) is some kind of separate computer within all modern Intel processors (CPU)." Maybe this was a translation to English, but it makes it seem like they're not sure what the Intel ME is.
- mindslight 7y ago
  Is anyone, apart from Intel and conspirators, sure what Intel ME actually is?
  - jnaulty 7y ago
    https://media.ccc.de/v/36c3-10694-intel_management_engine_deep_dive https://media.ccc.de/v/36c3-10694-intel_management_engine_de...
pixelface 7y ago
my initial reaction is that it's a hefty price to pay for a lightly modded x230, but not everyone wants or is able to do these mods themselves. I'm surprised nobody is going so far as to do the other common mods (1920x1080 IPS, x220 keyboard swap, make the X220 keyboard have all its native functionality, whitelist mods, i7/16gb config) to offer the fully hotrodded ultimate form. Having done them myself and seeing the amount of work, maybe the market isn't such that they would sell at a price that makes sense for the seller.
kitani 7y ago
>Secure >8 year old Intel Processors full of CPU bugs I don't get how you can call this secure. Without those CPU's it certainly would be an interesting device. But advertising it as secure and then using something like Qubes where those bugs break the very isolation Qubes is based upon ...
- szszszsz 7y ago
  As far as I see Qubes 4.x is protected from most of the CPU attacks [1][2] since over a year. Do you have anything particular in mind? Disclaimer: I work with Nitrokey. PS Due to comments' post limit my replies might be delayed. [1] https://www.qubes-os.org/news/2018/01/11/qsb-37/ https://www.qubes-os.org/news/2018/01/11/qsb-37/ [2] https://github.com/QubesOS/qubes-issues/issues/4262 https://github.com/QubesOS/qubes-issues/issues/4262

59 points by Manozco 7y ago

Is the dm-crypt decryption key stored on the NitroKey with a pin/passphrase to access the key to mount the decrypted the disk?

JensRantil 7y ago
From what I understand the key is verifying that BIOS and unencrypted part of disk is unaltered. It is not verifying that any of the encrypted part of the hard drive has been tampered with. As such, it is not storing the hard drive decryption key on the USB stick.
- josteink 7y ago
  So this is much like UEFI secure-boot then?
  - jans23 7y ago
    Measured boot allows to verify the integrity of the installed firmware (which itself verifies the integrity of the Linux boot partition) by a separate Nitrokey. The idea is that you have your Nitrokey nearby and therefore safe against compromise, other than the laptop which may be left unattended.

byteshock 7y ago

Basically yubikey with storage?

FerretFred 7y ago
I like the sound of that...
szszszsz 7y ago
This is actually a set of devices. NitroPad is a preconfigured refurbished x230 laptop, with replaced firmware and deactivated IntelME, as well as removed WiFi module on request. With it comes a companion device, Nitrokey Pro or Nitrokey Storage, which takes part in the boot verification process. Together they form a secure workstation. Closest to your description is Nitrokey Storage, which in feature terms is a Nitrokey Pro, but extended with an encrypted storage on an SD card. Disclaimer: I work with Nitrokey.

andy_ppp 7y ago

If I was a government these are the exact sorts of projects I'd set up as a honey pot to tempt people who are doing illegal things to use my pre compromised hardware. How can I trust NitroPad more than another laptop manufacturer? I actually trust this much less.

ericmay 7y ago
Potentially, and I saw this comment after clicking the link and my first thought was that this company/laptop looks too generic. Something feels off. Could be wrong. But also don’t care since I’m not in the market for it.
- arianvanp 7y ago
  That's because they do not produce the laptops. As it says on the website they're modified Lenovo X230 thinkpads. A super common laptop in the enterprise world
  - ericmay 7y ago
    Sure - that’s why I said company/laptop. I should have been more specific, I guess. But pretty much everything about the writing, branding, marketing, and company seem too generic for me.
bubblethink 7y ago
If you try to read the article, including the linked projects, it helps a lot rather than broadcasting every nascent thought that pops up in the head to the internet. All the ingredients have been a long time in the making. To summarise, it builds upon coreboot, heads, nitrokey, and me_cleaner, all of which are open source and have been developed by various people in this domain who also know what they are doing. It uses a thinkpad x230 as it is an ivy bridge processor, the last generation of intel processors whose initialisation is open source and well understood. If you would like to read more about this specific combination, you can also read at https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/certified-hardware/#qubes-certified-laptop-insurgo-privacybeast-x230 https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/certified-hardware/#qubes-certi... .

mosselman 7y ago

> The Nitrokey Storage 2 additionally contains an encrypted mass storage with hidden volumes. What use are the hidden volumes if it is already pretty obvious that they will be there? I am pretty sure that whichever party you are trying to protect yourself from with this, will know that a Nitrokey will have hidden volumes.

szszszsz 7y ago
The idea is, that hidden volumes cannot be distinguished from a random data, until the correct decryption password is entered. So while the device is capable of having a hidden volume (or more), one cannot prove its existence on device. Disclaimer: I work with Nitrokey.
- gruez 7y ago
  How does this work with SSDs supporting TRIM? If it's enabled, that large block of space would be erased by the SSD. If you put a large file in its place, that's also suspicious (huge block of random data). If you disable TRIM, also suspicious.
  - szszszsz 7y ago
    Nitrokey Storage uses SD card, which AFAIK does not support TRIM. Before first usage it is overwritten with a random data. Drive is presented to the OS like any regular (non-SSD) flash drive device, hence I do not think OS would issue TRIM on it.
- mosselman 7y ago
  I get the technology and with a random disk it could make sense: there is no way to prove that there will be a hidden volume. But if you use this with a device that was built to support this, the plausible deniability becomes less believable.

Red_Leaves_Flyy 7y ago

I7 3520m is a 2012 ivy bridge CPU.

apk-d 7y ago
It's a surprisingly performant CPU. I've been using an x230 (the slower i5 variant, even) until a year ago and I felt pretty productive with it. In between Intel microcode nerfs and all kinds of software being rewritten into performance-hungry web-based SPAs I wouldn't recommend it in 2020, though.
szszszsz 7y ago
That's correct. Hopefully the firmware components it is based upon will support newer platforms in the future. From my understanding that mostly depends on the hardware vendors, which seem to close their solutions, instead of opening them. Anyway, for secure communication (email, IRC, Jabber etc) this hardware will suffice with the current specification. Disclaimer: I work with Nitrokey.
Kaibeezy 7y ago
Not surprised at all they chose this hardware. ThinkPad X230 (in my limited and skewed opinion) is still the second best laptop ever made (for purposes like mine), behind only its predecessor, the X220 which has (what I and many others consider) the best laptop keyboard ever made. It’s easy to find one with an i5 that’s perfectly adequate for most ordinary business tasks. Pretty good screen, ports, battery life. Upgradable, sturdy, repairable. Highly unlikely to be stolen. $150 in like new condition. I’ve bought them for all my non-tech friends and family who I support, all are happy. Please buy these and keep the market for parts alive.
- pixelface 7y ago
  if you're not already aware, swapping the X220 keyboard (and palmrest) onto an X230 is a fairly straightforward swap. That modification plus the FHD mod and accompanying 1920x1080 IPS make the X230 a very nice daily driver.

fit2rule 7y ago

There will always be an abstract layer over which the user cannot/will not observe. Until we mere mortals are capable of growing our own chips in carefully maintained vats, we are always going to be at the mercy of the wizards in their high tower, which represents the computing world today. Computers are simply not something we can safely trust, for as long as they are built from a wide and diverse variety of components, and even then there is not a clear or responsible class of society capable of providing safe audits of silicon designs, without being immediately corruptible. The only ways computing can contribute to trust is when society evolves, hopefully using a bit of computing power along the way, to trust itself inherently. Even these third-party, open-source, audited systems are too untrustworthy. We need complete and open design and manufacture, the entire chain audited along the way, to come even close to having trustworthy systems. With this in mind, I resist efforts of third parties to claim safe/security in their system integration efforts. Please, by all means maintain enthusiasm for the subject, but wake me up when the vat is warming up and the chips are growable, locally ..

abtinf 7y ago
> carefully maintained vats We are to assume the firmware running the vats is secure? That they won't be secretly (or openly through legal compulsion) infecting everything they grow? You know, to protect the children.
- fit2rule 7y ago
  Yeah, the vats need to come with docs, and the kids better know how to read by then.

fghtr 7y ago

See also Librem Key for a free (as in freedom) alternative [0]. [0] https://puri.sm/products/librem-key/ https://puri.sm/products/librem-key/

szszszsz 7y ago
We are actually cooperating with Librem Key, developed firmware and hardware they are using [1]. Librem Key is ours Nitrokey Pro. [1] https://www.nitrokey.com/news/2018/nitrokey-partners-purism-build-librem-key https://www.nitrokey.com/news/2018/nitrokey-partners-purism-... Disclaimer: I work with Nitrokey.

_salmon 7y ago

> "The Intel Management Engine (ME) is some kind of separate computer within all modern Intel processors (CPU)." Maybe this was a translation to English, but it makes it seem like they're not sure what the Intel ME is.

mindslight 7y ago
Is anyone, apart from Intel and conspirators, sure what Intel ME actually is?
- jnaulty 7y ago
  https://media.ccc.de/v/36c3-10694-intel_management_engine_deep_dive https://media.ccc.de/v/36c3-10694-intel_management_engine_de...

pixelface 7y ago

my initial reaction is that it's a hefty price to pay for a lightly modded x230, but not everyone wants or is able to do these mods themselves. I'm surprised nobody is going so far as to do the other common mods (1920x1080 IPS, x220 keyboard swap, make the X220 keyboard have all its native functionality, whitelist mods, i7/16gb config) to offer the fully hotrodded ultimate form. Having done them myself and seeing the amount of work, maybe the market isn't such that they would sell at a price that makes sense for the seller.

kitani 7y ago

>Secure >8 year old Intel Processors full of CPU bugs I don't get how you can call this secure. Without those CPU's it certainly would be an interesting device. But advertising it as secure and then using something like Qubes where those bugs break the very isolation Qubes is based upon ...

szszszsz 7y ago
As far as I see Qubes 4.x is protected from most of the CPU attacks [1][2] since over a year. Do you have anything particular in mind? Disclaimer: I work with Nitrokey. PS Due to comments' post limit my replies might be delayed. [1] https://www.qubes-os.org/news/2018/01/11/qsb-37/ https://www.qubes-os.org/news/2018/01/11/qsb-37/ [2] https://github.com/QubesOS/qubes-issues/issues/4262 https://github.com/QubesOS/qubes-issues/issues/4262