6 ms·

USB armory: an open-source hardware design, flash-drive sized computer

tastroder 7y ago
Better resources: - Landing page https://inversepath.com/usbarmory.html https://inversepath.com/usbarmory.html - Wiki https://github.com/f-secure-foundry/usbarmory/wiki https://github.com/f-secure-foundry/usbarmory/wiki - MkII introduction on there https://github.com/f-secure-foundry/usbarmory/wiki/Mk-II-Introduction https://github.com/f-secure-foundry/usbarmory/wiki/Mk-II-Int...
- DyslexicAtheist 7y ago
  agree. maybe makes sense to change the link
- thrownaway954 7y ago
  i will NEVER understand why so called "news articles" don't put a link to the product that they are reviewing. Thank you for the links!
  - nabla9 7y ago
    i PERFECTLY understand why so called "news articles" don't put a link to the product that they are reviewing. They don't want users to click links and go away.
    - thrownaway954 7y ago
      target="_blank"
- dang 7y ago
  Ok, we've changed to that first link from https://www.trustedreviews.com/news/f-secure-just-made-an-unhackable-usb-sized-computer-3982479 https://www.trustedreviews.com/news/f-secure-just-made-an-un.... Thanks!
83 7y ago
Cost is around $150 for those who don't want to click around to find it. Hardware specs: SoC: NXP i.MX6ULZ ARM® Cortex™-A7 900 MHz RAM: 512 MB DDR3 Storage: internal 16 GB eMMC + external microSD Bluetooth module: u-blox ANNA-B112 BLE USB-C ports: DRP (Dual Role Power) receptacle + UFP (Upstream Facing Port) plug, USB 2.0 only (no video support) LEDs: two Slide switch: for boot mode selection between eMMC and microSD External security elements: Microchip ATECC608A + NXP A71CH Physical size: 66 mm x 19 mm x 8 mm (without enclosure, including USB-C connector)
- KMnO4 7y ago
  Interesting. That's a $2 SoC, part of NXP's "Ultra Low Cost" line. The whole BOM cost is probably around $10-15, so hopefully F-Secure can sell enough of these to bring consumer cost down. I can see a lot of use for these guys, but it's hard to justify when as Pi Zero outspecs it for 5% of the cost. I'd pick it up just to hack around if it was closer to the $50 range.
  - RL_Quine 7y ago
    I wonder if it's one of the chips that has a bootloader vulnerability. All of the trustzone stuff was completely broken on their original, and nobody ever implemented working code for it anyway. The BOM cost is probably pretty high because of the BGA package, the original was like a 8 layer board or something absurd. Those processors, as you pointed out, are comically slow even compared with the raspberry pi.
    - lcarsip 7y ago
      We took part of in the original HAB disclosure process for the NXP i.MX series and we carry on testing these parts. Please see https://github.com/f-secure-foundry/advisories https://github.com/f-secure-foundry/advisories Of course all P/Ns used for the Mk II have a patched boot ROM, please see https://github.com/f-secure-foundry/usbarmory/wiki/Secure-boot-(Mk-II)#security-information https://github.com/f-secure-foundry/usbarmory/wiki/Secure-bo.... The original Mk I was 6 layers in the end, the Mk II is also 6 layers. And yes the BOM cost is considerable due to its specifications. The i.MX SoC core we use is comparable to a 1st gen Raspberry PI in speed, but of course slower than newer multi-core ones. However security and form factor, rather than pure speed, is our goal. For the intent and purposes of the board performance is more than adequate. Some benchmarks here: https://github.com/f-secure-foundry/usbarmory/wiki/Benchmarks-(Mk-II) https://github.com/f-secure-foundry/usbarmory/wiki/Benchmark...
daedalus2027 7y ago
Firt thing that comes to my mind will it be dpa resilient?
- KMnO4 7y ago
  NXP holds patents for SPA and DPA countermeasures[0], and this board's security IC, the NXP A71CH[1] does in fact have this. [0]:https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20081104005569/en/Cryptography-Research-Licenses-Differential-Power-Analysis-Countermeasures https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20081104005569/en/Cry... [1]:https://www.nxp.com/docs/en/data-sheet/A71CH-SDS.pdf https://www.nxp.com/docs/en/data-sheet/A71CH-SDS.pdf
perlgeek 7y ago
Super secure, but secure against which kinds of attacks? Is it secure against key extraction from somebody with physical access to the hardware?
- zokier 7y ago
  > Is it secure against key extraction from somebody with physical access to the hardware? it is supposed to be.
- hlandau 7y ago
  Seems unlikely. Pretty much everything is vulnerable to voltage glitching unless specifically designed to mitigate against it.
- lcarsip 7y ago
  The Secure Boot feature (https://github.com/f-secure-foundry/usbarmory/wiki/Secure-boot-(Mk-II) https://github.com/f-secure-foundry/usbarmory/wiki/Secure-bo...) in concert with full disk encryption prevent anyone from extracting keys. When used in combination with user supplied passphrases this leaves little chance for physical attacks. The two external security elements have active protection against glitching and side channel.
Confiks 7y ago
The 36c3 talk about this device and TamaGo: - https://fahrplan.events.ccc.de/congress/2019/Fahrplan/events/10597.html https://fahrplan.events.ccc.de/congress/2019/Fahrplan/events... - https://media.ccc.de/v/36c3-10597-tamago_-_bare_metal_go_framework_for_arm_socs https://media.ccc.de/v/36c3-10597-tamago_-_bare_metal_go_fra...
newnewpdro 7y ago
I have a bricked mk1, it was a convenient place to keep private keys while it worked but unfortunately it didn't last very long before it quit booting.
jaclaz 7y ago
The idea is nice, it will have to be seen how the actual product will result in practical use, at first sight, it seems like (mechanically) very "flimsy", the device is intended to be supported by its USB-C connector (and that bar the possibility of accidentally breaking it[1] should be fine) but the moment you use the female connector (which is at the other end of the male one) any weight, be it the connected device or the cable to connect it will create a relatively powerful lever on the male USB-C connector. The only "safe" way to use it seems to me having it on a stable surface and connect also the USB-C male through a cable. [1] disclaimer, I am not saying that it will happen to you, but I had several USB sticks and/or USB receptacles (the much sturdier type A) broken and/or bent and or however ruined by clumsy colleagues or cleaning ladies and even pets.
- lcarsip 7y ago
  We found no mechanical issue with the board. While developing TamaGo I have plugged/unplugged it about 200 times a day for months ;).
  - jaclaz 7y ago
    My note/doubt wasn't about inserting/plugging/unplugging it (I am pretty sure that is fine or at least as fine as any other USB-C device), it is about leaving it plugged (and sticking out without support) to a PC or some other device (thus exposed to accidental hits). And if at the end of it there is another little device plugged (or a cable) in the female connector, little by little the weight might losen the receptacle of the PC or however put too much traction on the connector soldering or even (I have seen it happening with some devices) slightly bend the board.
apodysophilia 7y ago
The Bash Bunny from Hak5 seems similar for $50 less [1]. It is USB A instead of Type C with only 8 GB of storage but does feature a quad core A7 [2]. [1] https://shop.hak5.org/products/bash-bunny https://shop.hak5.org/products/bash-bunny [2] https://forums.hak5.org/topic/40208-bash-bunny-specs/ https://forums.hak5.org/topic/40208-bash-bunny-specs/
hlieberman 7y ago
ARM SecureZone is an odd choice on a platform that's aiming to be highly trusted. It's got a very weak security model compared to isolated TPMs (like the two that they have on-board as well). The boot-chaining on this looks like it's entirely reliant on the TrustZone separation, not on either of the two on-board TPMs, nu?
5- 7y ago
Related devices, where related mostly means "a computer that plugs into a USB port", roughly in recency order: - Serpente, $15 Cortex-M0+ https://www.tindie.com/products/arturo182/serpente-a-tiny-circuitpython-prototyping-board/ https://www.tindie.com/products/arturo182/serpente-a-tiny-ci... - Somu, $35 Cortex-M4 https://www.crowdsupply.com/solokeys/somu https://www.crowdsupply.com/solokeys/somu - Fomu, $50 ICE40UP5K https://www.crowdsupply.com/sutajio-kosagi/fomu https://www.crowdsupply.com/sutajio-kosagi/fomu - GL.iNet GL-USB150, $30 MIPS 24K https://www.gl-inet.com/products/gl-usb150/ https://www.gl-inet.com/products/gl-usb150/ - Bash Bunny, $100 Cortex-A7 https://shop.hak5.org/products/bash-bunny https://shop.hak5.org/products/bash-bunny - Espruino Pico, $25 Cortex-M4 https://www.espruino.com/Pico https://www.espruino.com/Pico - IceStick, $25 ICE40HX1K https://www.latticesemi.com/icestick https://www.latticesemi.com/icestick

Better resources: - Landing page https://inversepath.com/usbarmory.html https://inversepath.com/usbarmory.html - Wiki https://github.com/f-secure-foundry/usbarmory/wiki https://github.com/f-secure-foundry/usbarmory/wiki - MkII introduction on there https://github.com/f-secure-foundry/usbarmory/wiki/Mk-II-Introduction https://github.com/f-secure-foundry/usbarmory/wiki/Mk-II-Int...

DyslexicAtheist 7y ago
agree. maybe makes sense to change the link
thrownaway954 7y ago
i will NEVER understand why so called "news articles" don't put a link to the product that they are reviewing. Thank you for the links!
- nabla9 7y ago
  i PERFECTLY understand why so called "news articles" don't put a link to the product that they are reviewing. They don't want users to click links and go away.
  - thrownaway954 7y ago
    target="_blank"
dang 7y ago
Ok, we've changed to that first link from https://www.trustedreviews.com/news/f-secure-just-made-an-unhackable-usb-sized-computer-3982479 https://www.trustedreviews.com/news/f-secure-just-made-an-un.... Thanks!

83 7y ago

Cost is around $150 for those who don't want to click around to find it. Hardware specs: SoC: NXP i.MX6ULZ ARM® Cortex™-A7 900 MHz RAM: 512 MB DDR3 Storage: internal 16 GB eMMC + external microSD Bluetooth module: u-blox ANNA-B112 BLE USB-C ports: DRP (Dual Role Power) receptacle + UFP (Upstream Facing Port) plug, USB 2.0 only (no video support) LEDs: two Slide switch: for boot mode selection between eMMC and microSD External security elements: Microchip ATECC608A + NXP A71CH Physical size: 66 mm x 19 mm x 8 mm (without enclosure, including USB-C connector)

KMnO4 7y ago
Interesting. That's a $2 SoC, part of NXP's "Ultra Low Cost" line. The whole BOM cost is probably around $10-15, so hopefully F-Secure can sell enough of these to bring consumer cost down. I can see a lot of use for these guys, but it's hard to justify when as Pi Zero outspecs it for 5% of the cost. I'd pick it up just to hack around if it was closer to the $50 range.
- RL_Quine 7y ago
  I wonder if it's one of the chips that has a bootloader vulnerability. All of the trustzone stuff was completely broken on their original, and nobody ever implemented working code for it anyway. The BOM cost is probably pretty high because of the BGA package, the original was like a 8 layer board or something absurd. Those processors, as you pointed out, are comically slow even compared with the raspberry pi.
  - lcarsip 7y ago
    We took part of in the original HAB disclosure process for the NXP i.MX series and we carry on testing these parts. Please see https://github.com/f-secure-foundry/advisories https://github.com/f-secure-foundry/advisories Of course all P/Ns used for the Mk II have a patched boot ROM, please see https://github.com/f-secure-foundry/usbarmory/wiki/Secure-boot-(Mk-II)#security-information https://github.com/f-secure-foundry/usbarmory/wiki/Secure-bo.... The original Mk I was 6 layers in the end, the Mk II is also 6 layers. And yes the BOM cost is considerable due to its specifications. The i.MX SoC core we use is comparable to a 1st gen Raspberry PI in speed, but of course slower than newer multi-core ones. However security and form factor, rather than pure speed, is our goal. For the intent and purposes of the board performance is more than adequate. Some benchmarks here: https://github.com/f-secure-foundry/usbarmory/wiki/Benchmarks-(Mk-II) https://github.com/f-secure-foundry/usbarmory/wiki/Benchmark...

daedalus2027 7y ago

Firt thing that comes to my mind will it be dpa resilient?

KMnO4 7y ago
NXP holds patents for SPA and DPA countermeasures[0], and this board's security IC, the NXP A71CH[1] does in fact have this. [0]:https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20081104005569/en/Cryptography-Research-Licenses-Differential-Power-Analysis-Countermeasures https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20081104005569/en/Cry... [1]:https://www.nxp.com/docs/en/data-sheet/A71CH-SDS.pdf https://www.nxp.com/docs/en/data-sheet/A71CH-SDS.pdf

perlgeek 7y ago

Super secure, but secure against which kinds of attacks? Is it secure against key extraction from somebody with physical access to the hardware?

zokier 7y ago
> Is it secure against key extraction from somebody with physical access to the hardware? it is supposed to be.
hlandau 7y ago
Seems unlikely. Pretty much everything is vulnerable to voltage glitching unless specifically designed to mitigate against it.
lcarsip 7y ago
The Secure Boot feature (https://github.com/f-secure-foundry/usbarmory/wiki/Secure-boot-(Mk-II) https://github.com/f-secure-foundry/usbarmory/wiki/Secure-bo...) in concert with full disk encryption prevent anyone from extracting keys. When used in combination with user supplied passphrases this leaves little chance for physical attacks. The two external security elements have active protection against glitching and side channel.

Confiks 7y ago

The 36c3 talk about this device and TamaGo: - https://fahrplan.events.ccc.de/congress/2019/Fahrplan/events/10597.html https://fahrplan.events.ccc.de/congress/2019/Fahrplan/events... - https://media.ccc.de/v/36c3-10597-tamago_-_bare_metal_go_framework_for_arm_socs https://media.ccc.de/v/36c3-10597-tamago_-_bare_metal_go_fra...

newnewpdro 7y ago

I have a bricked mk1, it was a convenient place to keep private keys while it worked but unfortunately it didn't last very long before it quit booting.

jaclaz 7y ago

The idea is nice, it will have to be seen how the actual product will result in practical use, at first sight, it seems like (mechanically) very "flimsy", the device is intended to be supported by its USB-C connector (and that bar the possibility of accidentally breaking it[1] should be fine) but the moment you use the female connector (which is at the other end of the male one) any weight, be it the connected device or the cable to connect it will create a relatively powerful lever on the male USB-C connector. The only "safe" way to use it seems to me having it on a stable surface and connect also the USB-C male through a cable. [1] disclaimer, I am not saying that it will happen to you, but I had several USB sticks and/or USB receptacles (the much sturdier type A) broken and/or bent and or however ruined by clumsy colleagues or cleaning ladies and even pets.

lcarsip 7y ago
We found no mechanical issue with the board. While developing TamaGo I have plugged/unplugged it about 200 times a day for months ;).
- jaclaz 7y ago
  My note/doubt wasn't about inserting/plugging/unplugging it (I am pretty sure that is fine or at least as fine as any other USB-C device), it is about leaving it plugged (and sticking out without support) to a PC or some other device (thus exposed to accidental hits). And if at the end of it there is another little device plugged (or a cable) in the female connector, little by little the weight might losen the receptacle of the PC or however put too much traction on the connector soldering or even (I have seen it happening with some devices) slightly bend the board.

apodysophilia 7y ago

The Bash Bunny from Hak5 seems similar for $50 less [1]. It is USB A instead of Type C with only 8 GB of storage but does feature a quad core A7 [2]. [1] https://shop.hak5.org/products/bash-bunny https://shop.hak5.org/products/bash-bunny [2] https://forums.hak5.org/topic/40208-bash-bunny-specs/ https://forums.hak5.org/topic/40208-bash-bunny-specs/

hlieberman 7y ago

ARM SecureZone is an odd choice on a platform that's aiming to be highly trusted. It's got a very weak security model compared to isolated TPMs (like the two that they have on-board as well). The boot-chaining on this looks like it's entirely reliant on the TrustZone separation, not on either of the two on-board TPMs, nu?

5- 7y ago

Related devices, where related mostly means "a computer that plugs into a USB port", roughly in recency order: - Serpente, $15 Cortex-M0+ https://www.tindie.com/products/arturo182/serpente-a-tiny-circuitpython-prototyping-board/ https://www.tindie.com/products/arturo182/serpente-a-tiny-ci... - Somu, $35 Cortex-M4 https://www.crowdsupply.com/solokeys/somu https://www.crowdsupply.com/solokeys/somu - Fomu, $50 ICE40UP5K https://www.crowdsupply.com/sutajio-kosagi/fomu https://www.crowdsupply.com/sutajio-kosagi/fomu - GL.iNet GL-USB150, $30 MIPS 24K https://www.gl-inet.com/products/gl-usb150/ https://www.gl-inet.com/products/gl-usb150/ - Bash Bunny, $100 Cortex-A7 https://shop.hak5.org/products/bash-bunny https://shop.hak5.org/products/bash-bunny - Espruino Pico, $25 Cortex-M4 https://www.espruino.com/Pico https://www.espruino.com/Pico - IceStick, $25 ICE40HX1K https://www.latticesemi.com/icestick https://www.latticesemi.com/icestick