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Probably the most important feature of hardware tokens is they can't be copied. Any backup is a copy.
by postalrat 4y ago
Probably the most important feature of hardware tokens is they can't be copied.
Any backup is a copy.
- akarve 4y agoNo. The backups have their own secrets and no relationship to one another. You register them as distinct keys with each app.
- EvanAnderson 4y agoHere's an example of what I consider a reasonable hardware key security model: I can initialize a Nitrokey HSM on a disconnected PC with whatever device key encryption key (DKEK) I want (128-bit AES key). I can write that key down and store it in a safe place (broken into chunks, if need be, for my security model). I can backup my keys generated by the Nitrokey to export files that are completely useless w/o my DKEK. I can store those backups wherever I want without any loss of security. If I lose my Nitrokey device I can buy another, initialize it with the same DKEK, and restore my key backups. (If I really want to I can decrypt my backups using my DKEK.) If I don’t want to do any of that I can have the Nitrokey generate a random DKEK that is never exposed. Then I lose all my keys permanently when I lose the key. I have the option to choose the model that allows me to backup my keys if I want to. If the point of the hardware key is to put the owner thru pointless make-work and risk then the hardware key is serving somebody other than the owner.