Ledger ignites feud with Trezor after claiming to be better in a blog post. In a blog post titled ‘Not all chips are born equal’, Ledger outlines the different technologies used by hardware crypto wallets. They then go on to say that Ledger has better security than the competition because it uses a different, newer and more secure chip.
Responding via Twitter to the blog post, Trezor CEO Marek “Slush” Palatinus claimed that Ledger was being dishonest and warping the truth.
Ledger is being dishonest as it points out only part of the whole story.
Did you know NDA of SE chip vendors prevent wallet manufacturers to talk about security issues to their customers?
Trezor is using nonNDA chips so we can be fully transparent and act in your best interest.
Hardware wallets are designed to keep your private keys completely offline, ensuring it stays out of reach for online hacks while also providing countermeasures for physical tampering. For this, the hardware used is absolutely vital. At Ledger, they use Secure Elements – Common Criteria Certified Smartcard Chips.
When choosing hardware wallets, an often overlooked part is the actual hardware of the devices. The chips used in hardware wallet devices are the actual physical part which stores the access to all your crypto assets: your recovery phrase (also known as mnemonic phrase). To put it simply: if anyone gains access to this information, it’s game over.
The Gist
It’s key that the chips used to protect this vital piece of information from anyone wishing to take it is extremely secure, but not all chip types provide the same level of resistance against attacks. You wouldn’t want a chip used in a vacuum cleaner or microwave to be protecting the access to your valuable cryptocurrencies – they’re simply not designed for secure solutions. That’s why at Ledger, we only use the most advanced secure chips called Secure Elements to safeguard your crypto assets, whereas other hardware wallet manufacturers have opted for other chip types.
Key takeaways
– The security of your crypto assets is highly dependent on the type of chips used.
– MCU chips are not designed for security and don’t have countermeasures against physical attacks embedded. They are intended for general purposes such as microwaves and TV remotes.
– Safe Memory chips used in hardware wallets have claimed its security even though it has never been tested by an unbiased third party security lab.
– At Ledger, we only use Secure Elements which have been tested by an unbiased third party. These are the only chips accepted for secure solutions such as passports and banking cards.
Unlike Safe Memory chips, Secure Element chips are certified and have undergone intensive testing by a third-party security lab. By having successfully withstood the attacks performed by them, our Secure Element chips have gotten their seal of approval to show the world it’s been thoroughly tested, thus being certified. We even went a step further and had our entire hardware wallet’s system tested and certified – a first in the market. Both the Ledger Nano S and the Ledger Nano X are certified hardware wallets. We hope to set a new security standard for hardware wallets with this.
– LEDGER
