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Tell HN: Somu is live. Tiny, FIDO2, open source security key

32 points by ecesena ↗ HN
Somu is live on Crowd Supply [1].

Somu is the micro version of Solo [2]. We were inspired to make a secure Tomu [3], so we took its tiny form factor, we added the secure microcontroller and firmware of Solo, et voilà! Here we have Somu.

(clickable links in comment)

14 comments

[ 4.2 ms ] story [ 43.7 ms ] thread
Scaevolus
Why use silicone instead of an epoxy case?
ecesena
The benefit is that we can have multiple colors without inventory mess.

For Solo we had silicone cases and decided to stay with the same manufacturer.

jack12
Hmm, that $100K stretch goal is pretty much required for me to be able to use this instead of a yubikey. I wonder how likely it is to be met?

The whole "we have to avoid GPL3 code so we're able to keep 'normal' people 'safe'" angle feels pretty icky. But I know lots of people believe in the whole 'trusted' movement. And I suppose having a 'hacker' version /available/ is at least a bit better than what yubico offers.

amluto
Unfortunately, it’s not totally nuts. Designing a system that has replaceable firmware and retains the security properties one would want is nontrivial. Malicious software should not be able to reflash the device without genuine user consent, and any reflagging should wipe all key material. They could do a JavaCard like thing where different apps have different security domains, but that needs either hardware help or complicated software.

IIRC Chromium OS has a little washer that can be physically removed to allow end-user rekeying. Without that washer removed, if you put it in dev mode, you get a warning on the display. Doing this for a reasonable price in the tiny form factor would be tough.

hackerb9
Tough, but not insurmountable. Especially compared to the work of reimplementing GPG and actually having it be trustworthy. (They mention it is harder than they thought, but they are continuing on. That says to me they have not yet thought hard enough about it!)

Here's an idea: If you look at the metal ring on the Somu, you'll see it is actually two separate pieces with a small gap between them. In hardware, they are two touch buttons, but the software treats them as identical.

Maybe they could manufacture the Somu with the gap between them soldered closed. If someone wants to put it in "dev mode", they have to first cut the solder bridge apart.

I think that would satisfy the GPL3: user has ultimate control, but also meet the security concern that the user might not know the implications of what they're doing.

Tomte
> (clickable links in comment)

Please do it the other way around: do a regular URL submission, then add your comments as – well, a comment.

ecesena
Don't take it the wrong way, but the intention was to keep our link visible for a little bit of time.

Making a ready-to-manufacture hardware project takes significant more effort than just writing a blog post or recording a video.

Links posted in HN tend to disappear in a matter of minutes from the new and even if you hit the front page hardly anything remains visible for more than a day.

When we launched Solo, our Show HN was taken down because Show HN should be something people can interact with and crowdfunding was not acceptable. We learned it the hard way and this time around we respected the policy and didn't create a Show HN. (For comparison, I'm just looking at Show HN now and there are video projects, that I can't try nor interact with.)

If projects like Solo/Somu, open source, security, and implementing a real-world applications like FIDO2 don't qualify as interesting for a hacker community, I'm more that happy to respect that and not waste anyone's time posting. But if they do, like I think, they should have a way to be showcased properly.

Tomte
Still, don't do it. It's against the unwritten rules. You don't get to game the system.

Solo is interesting to the HN audience. But not more interesting than everything else. If you truly believe you deserve special treatment, mail hn@ycombinator.com. They can boost visibility in other ways, although I doubt they would do so here.

And Show HNs do not disappear quite as quickly.

ecesena
Please re-read my comment, you clearly didn't:

1) Show HN can't be used because there are written rules that we're respecting

2) We don't need any special treatment

3) There's no gaming involved. There's just a form with 2 options and we chose the most favorable for us, explaining why

I'm afraid I can't cope with unwritten rules, because there's no way for me to guess them.