Physical components

Sensitive key material is only ever available in clear text inside the HSM. As a result, the other physical components aren't sensitive. We do however practice defense in depth.

Choosing secure locations

You should consult with a physical security specialist for best practices. Using dedicated rooms (or buildings), renting space in commercial data centers, or renting bank vaults all provide various tradeoffs.

We recommend picking physical locations which are unlikely to be simultaneously affected by a disaster.

Hardware Security Module (HSM)

We leverage nCipher Security's nShield Solo XC General Purpose HSMs (product page). We recommend picking the XC Base model, but the software works with any of the XC models (XC Base, XC Mid, or XC High). Our latest build uses the vendor supplied CodeSafe-linux64-dev-12.50.2.iso and firmware 12.50.11.

We picked this HSM for the following reasons:

  • FIPS certified.
  • Ability to run custom, signed code.

Our HSM's form factor is PCIe. The same hardware is available as an external USB device (nShield Edge) or a network-attached device (nShield Connect). These different form factors should function in an identical way.

A smart card reader (supplied with the HSM) and smart cards are required for various administrative tasks, as well as operational tasks.

The vendor sells licenses to enable various functionalities. The CodeSafe license is required to run the Subzero Core component inside the HSM. The ECC license is not required (we leverage Trezor's cryptographic library).

Note: while the device is marketed as nShield, all the vendor provided software is called nCipher. We therefore refer to our nShield devices as nCiphers.

The code is currently tightly coupled to the nShield. We are open to contributions enabling support for alternative vendors.

DVD reader

The code which runs on the servers is distributed using DVDs. We picked DVDs for the following reasons:

  • Immutable (mostly).
  • Makes upgrading remote locations easier.

QR-code scanner

Each remote location has two QR-code scanners. The QR-code scanner emulates a keyboard, which removes the need to deal with custom hardware drivers. One QR-code scanner is connected to the offline server, the other scanner is used to upload the signatures.

Linux server

We use standard Linux servers. Our servers need one PCIe slot (for the HSM), a DVD drive bay, a keyboard, an additional USB port (for the QR-code scanner) and a monitor. A hard drive is needed to store the wallet in its encrypted form.

Monitor

Standard monitor which plugs into the server. The monitor is used to display confirmation messages. The monitor's sensitivity ranges from medium to high, depending on what business logic rules are enforced within the HSM.

Keyboard

Standard keyboard which plugs into the server. The keyboard is used to confirm actions displayed by the UI. The keyboard is also used to enter the operator smart card password.

Battery

Powering the Linux server off a battery while a signing ceremony is taking place provides power isolation.