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On 2017-07-26 07:49, Jonathan Thornburg wrote:<br>
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cite="mid:%3C20170726104928.GA53250@iron.astro.indiana.edu%3E">
<pre wrap="">On Tue, Jul 25, 2017 at 03:18:26PM -0400, Erik wrote:
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<pre wrap="">I'm looking at some of the encrypted flash drives on the market, and one
from Corsair features all-hardware encryption with a pin-pad physically
located on the flash drive.
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.corsair.com/en-us/flash-padlock-2-8gb-usb-flash-drive-refurbished">https://www.corsair.com/en-us/flash-padlock-2-8gb-usb-flash-drive-refurbished</a>
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Using this means trusting the hardware manufacturer to get crypto right.
Past history is not encouraging:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://eprint.iacr.org/2015/1002.pdf">http://eprint.iacr.org/2015/1002.pdf</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.heise-online.co.uk/security/features/112548">http://www.heise-online.co.uk/security/features/112548</a>
AES is all well and good, but is it in ECB mode? Are expanded keys
stashed somewhere accessible? Software is already hard to audit, but
closed-source firmware/hardware is even worse. And if this system is
really good, you have to worry about various countries' spy agencies
"persuading" the manufacturer to put in backdoors. Ick.
Not to mention, the pinpad buttons' wear would be a source of some information to what the PIN is.
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<br>
If you really need to have one...: <br>
The Corsair uses a 4-10 digit PIN with a 5-character character set,
giving 12,206,875 possible <span class="cwcot" id="cwos">PINs. T</span>he
"Built-in hacking detection locks device for 2 minutes after 5
failed attempts". Just rinse, repeat. This guy -
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.exploit-db.com/papers/15424/">www.exploit-db.com/papers/15424/</a> - claims he can crack it.<br>
<br>
In contrast, the Kingston DataTraveler 2000, which at least is FIPS
197 certified, uses a 7-15 digit PIN with a ten-character character
set, giving 1,111,111,110,000,000 possible PINs. After ten failed
attempts, it deletes the stored PIN, the AES key, then wipes the
flash, returning it to the blank state it was when it left the
factory.<br>
<br>
Paul<br>
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