Show HN: The SC4-HSM, a fully open USB hardware secure module

Re:Show HN: The SC4-HSM, a fully open USB hardware secure mo... by lisper on Friday July 08, 2016 @12:05PM (#12056491)

> screwing up the password

If the host machine is pwned then it's not hard to steal your password.

> the worst it could do is forge signing requests

Well yeah, that's true. But if the card is protecting a really sensitive asset (like your bitcoin account) then a single forged request can do an awful lot of damage.

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Re:Show HN: The SC4-HSM, a fully open USB hardware secure mo... by Karunamon on Friday July 08, 2016 @12:17PM (#12056622)

The point being that the malware either has to horn in on a legitimate request (and I'm not sure if that's possible or not given how PKI), or issue its own request, which the user has to authorize with password, ideally out of band using a hardware pinpad.

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Re:Show HN: The SC4-HSM, a fully open USB hardware secure mo... by lisper on Friday July 08, 2016 @12:30PM (#12056727)

> ideally out of band using a hardware pinpad

Not "ideally". Critically. Without an out-of-band PIN the card is easy to compromise. And most cards don't have input devices.

And even with a secure PIN entry, without a display you can't actually know what transaction you are authorizing. So yes, the malware would have to "horn in" on a legitimate request. But if your machine is pwned that's not hard.

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