Overview#
User passwords have constantly been targeted and exploited by bad actors for decades. Most security experts recommend adding a second form of authentication rather than use of a password alone. This is often referred to as two-factor authentication (2FA) or multi-factor authentication (MFA). If a password is compromised, the attacker must still compromise a second authentication method.
USB security tokens are devices typically about the size of a USB flash drive. Unlike USB flash drives, however, they are not used to store data. Instead, these devices are a tangible authentication method for MFA because they are “something you have” instead of “something you know,” such as a password. They are portable enough to keep them in a pocket, purse, or keychain for use when logging in to a secure site.
The Librem Key is a USB security token to make encryption, GPG key management, password management, and tamper detection convenient and secure. It also integrates with the Heads tamper-evident BIOS to detect BIOS-level tampering.
Technical specifications#
Key slots |
3 * key slots supporting RSA 2048-4096 bit and ECC 256-512 bit |
Supported elliptic curves |
NIST P-256, P-384, P-521 (secp256r1/prime256v1, secp384r1/ prime384v1, secp521r1/prime521v1), brainpoolP256r1, brainpoolP384r1, brainpoolP512r1 |
Protocols |
CSP, OpenPGP, S/MIME, X.509, PKCS#11 |
One-time password storage |
3 * HOTP (RFC 4226) |
Integrated password manager |
16 entries |
Random number generator |
40 kbit/s true random number generator |
Tamper-resistant smart card |
|
Life expectancy |
> 100,000 PIN entries |
Storage time |
> 20 years |
USB |
USB 2.0, type A |
Dimensions |
48 x 19 x 7 mm |
Weight |
6g |