A Presence-sensing drive for Securely Storing Secrets
1 min read
Summary
A developer has created a cheap and simple way to store encryption keys on an air-gapped computer with some extra security protection.
Using a $20 (£17) USB dongle running CircuitPython code, the PECKUS (Presence Enforcing Crypto-Key USB-Storage) device works by pairing the user’s Bluetooth device with the dongle, which then only unlocks when the Bluetooth device is in the vicinity.
However, the developer admits that it is possible to defeat this system by desoldering the microcontroller and hacking the firmware, which is why the device should only be used for a $20 device.
Adding extra security measures would also increase the risk of vulnerabilities occurring, it was also suggested that data could be unlocked from RAM using data from the Bluetooth device, which would stop the data being extracted if the dongle was stolen.
