virtual-fido

Security and privacy

virtual security keys

SHOW HN2022

166points
138comments
#364of 2,570 in 2022
Top 15%of 2022 by points

How HN took it

RoastedHalf or more of the comments are critical

10 positive, 7 neutral or asking, 1 mixed, 18 critical, out of 36 comments about the project. Thread score -0.26.

Idea: 9 for, 13 againstPrivacy: 0 for, 4 againstExecution: 1 for, 1 against

The thread, comment by comment

Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.

positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker

What HN said

What people liked

  • Fantastic, smart approach to a real problem

    From 2 comments
    • I think this is really cool and a smart way to approach this problem. That being said, the physical isolation of the YubiKey is what makes it useful. Having to physically press a…
      d0ublespeak on HN
    • This is fantastic. Did you make this, cmdii? Why does it need to persist files locally? I thought that all that's necessary is the key. Is it for resident keys? I'd like a…
      stavros on HN

Objections

  • Less secure than hardware keys since keys are stored on the computer

    From 3 comments
    • This sort of defeats the idea of 2FA, doesn't it? If it's implemented as a software service on the same device, it's (well theoretically at least) hackable at the same time as…
      ivanhoe on HN
    • Wouldn't this reduce security considerably, for the scenario where the computer is compromised?
      askvictor on HN
    • The entire point of something you have is that it's physical and can't be copied. This isn't something you have, it's something you know with multiple layers of obscurity on top…
      1970-01-01 on HN
  • Physical button press isolation is what makes a YubiKey useful

    From 1 comment
    • I think this is really cool and a smart way to approach this problem. That being said, the physical isolation of the YubiKey is what makes it useful. Having to physically press a…
      d0ublespeak on HN

Requests

  • Touch ID or Secure Enclave backed virtual key

    From 1 comment
    • All I want is to be able to use Touch ID for services that only support Yubikey. At my workplace this means Duo - they have Touch ID support, but only in Chrome! In Safari or…
      hamandcheese on HN
  • Passphrase-derived FIDO2 key

    From 1 comment
    • This is fantastic. Did you make this, cmdii? Why does it need to persist files locally? I thought that all that's necessary is the key. Is it for resident keys? I'd like a…
      stavros on HN

Questions

  • Who is this for and is there a real requirement for these devices?

    From 1 comment
    • Fun demo but who is this really for? Is there a requirement for these devices anywhere aside from corporate security?
      lddemi on HN
  • Why does it persist files locally?

    From 1 comment
    • This is fantastic. Did you make this, cmdii? Why does it need to persist files locally? I thought that all that's necessary is the key. Is it for resident keys? I'd like a…
      stavros on HN

Alternatives named

  • Passkeys on Apple, Microsoft and Android

    From 2 comments
    • Apple, Microsoft, and Android support passkeys. They seem like a much better solution yubi keys
      mandrizzle on HN
    • Nice! I'm the author of tpm-fido[1] which is similar to this but with some different goals. It looks like you've implemented ctap2, which has been on my todo list for tpm-fido…
      psanford on HN
  • tpm-fido

    From 1 comment
    • Nice! I'm the author of tpm-fido[1] which is similar to this but with some different goals. It looks like you've implemented ctap2, which has been on my todo list for tpm-fido…
      psanford on HN
  • YubiKey hardware keys

    From 1 comment
    • This is my problem with fido/yubikey's and WebAuthN, etc. Somehow Fido and Yubikey have become intermixed and conflated. Like kleenex - one brand of facial tissue has become the…
      talkingtab on HN

Category, keywords, summaries and labels on this page were made by AI (Thread Reader v2) and not checked by hand. Each point links to the comments it came from.

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