Locknest, Your Hardware Digital Identity Guardian

Locknest’s Story in a Few Lines The players: Pierre, 44, former cybersecurity development team manager at Stormshield, current LockNest Group’s chief executive officer. Robert, 41, former lead developer at Arm LTD, current LockNest Group’s chief technical officer. Marie, 38, former front-end developer at Dassault systems, current LockNest Group’s technical chief product officer. The global Internet, 30-ish, first information and misinformation source. December 3rd, 2020, Issy-LesMoulineaux: Pierre@TheGlobalInternet: I would like to store my passwords in a device and have an easy access to them from my PC or my mobile, to avoid leaving them lying around on the Web. TheGlobalInternet@Pierre: At least a dozen solutions exist for you to store your passwords in the Cloud and easily access them. Pierre@TheGlobalInternet: All right, but I would like to avoid leaving all these confidential information on the Web, is it possible to store them in a hardware piece of equipment? TheGlobalInternet@Pierre: Sure, but in that case, you will have to copy-paste them or copy them by hand in all the applications, websites, and other forms. Pierre@TheGlobalInternet: Can’t I have both: stored physically and automatically available? TheGlobalInternet@Pierre: No results containing all your search terms were found. Later, on a video conference Issy-Les-Moulineaux/Cambridge/Boulogne-Billancourt: Pierre@Robert+Marie: The global Internet says that it does not exist, do you think we can do it ourselves? Robert+Marie@Pierre: Theoretically yes, we’ll go on testing and if we hit a wall, we’ll stop. November 11th, 2021: Robert+Marie@Pierre: There was no wall… What do we do, quit our jobs and create a company? May 25th, 2022: Pierre+Robert+Marie@INSEE+URSSAF: LockNest Group company is born! February 16th, 2023: LockNestGroup@KissKissBankBankers: The crowdfunding campaign is live! Since we created our business, we’ve dedicated 100% of our time to shape our product: the prototype is functional, the firmware and the user interfaces are being developed, but we need your help to carry on our project. If, like us, you refuse to store your passwords in the Cloud but want to access them easily: support us! What Is Locknest? Locknest is the hardware manager of your digital identity. To be clear, it means that instead of storing your logins and passwords in your browser or your mobile device, you entrust them to your Locknest. What difference does it make? You narrow your attack surface to this one very robust device. In the shape of a dongle that fits in the palm of your hand, Locknest is dedicated to the protection of confidential data, which means we guarantee an end-to-end encryption of your critical data, until your password is automatically written in the form field. And rest assured, Locknest is very easy to use: you just need to open your Chrome browser, go on our web application and connect your Locknest via USB or Bluetooth and you’re good to go! To autocomplete your web forms, you can use our Chrome extension or our Android mobile app: Locknest will be able to fill out the forms with the data you will have previously saved. How Does It Work, Really? All the features are not developed yet, and that’s in part why we need you! But when you’ll receive your Locknest, this is how you can use it: To access your Locknest’s interface, you’ll be able to use our web application on the Chrome browser, or the Android mobile app, available on the Play Store. Connect your Locknest: Getting started: The first time you will turn your Locknest on, you will be able to name it and then you’ll have to choose your master key. The master key is the unique password you’ll have to remember to access your Locknest. In order to guarantee the confidentiality of your data, we will never have access to it: it is crucial that you never forget it! But don’t worry, it is only composed of 7 digits. To learn more about it, please scroll down to “Our Security Pledges” part. Daily usage: You will be able to access the web application or the Android mobile app’s dashboard to add, remove or modify an entry. You will also be able to automatically fill out web forms, thanks to the Chrome extension on a PC and the autofill service on Android mobile. The MVP Version of Locknest: Available for Pre-orders At Locknest, we follow the Lean methodology: our goal is to create a product that fits the needs of its users. With this in mind, today we offer the Minimum Viable Product, or MVP, version of Locknest. Here are all the features of this first version: After the MVP: The Evolution of Locknest Prioritizing is not an easy task! But as we wanted to offer a first version before going any further, we already have in mind what happens next. Here is the list of upcoming features, their priority being subject to the feedback and needs from our early adopters: Possible data backup on a secure and private French server: by subscribing to our online service, you will be able to make frequent backup of your data. Don’t get us wrong: this is solely a backup, not a hot use of data. To put it simply: Locknest’s operation will not change, it will still be the device that distribute your data, never the backup directly. The level of protection does not change either: we will never have access to your unencrypted data. The difference is that you will be able to create a copy of this local database, which will be encrypted twice, and store it on a secure server to recover it in case of a problem. Support for iOS and macOS. Support for the main browsers not based on Chromium. Creation of a “guest” access to share your passwords securely. Creation of a range of Locknest with a larger storage capacity. Possibility of saving other types of data: credit cards, identity cards, addresses, etc. 2FA/MFA support with the implementation of TOTP and HOTP algorithms for the generation of single-use codes (OTP). Implementation of the FIDO2 (U2F) standard support to allow passwordless authentication. Possible deactivation of Bluetooth connectivity Add filters and folders in the application dashboard to sort entries. Possibility to pair several Locknest with the primary one. Secondary Locknest update by a simple long press on the action button of the primary and the secondary. Finer management of data import so as not to overwrite the database each time. Manual cleaning of the database, search for duplicates. Multi-session handling: being able to run two sessions in parallel, on mobile and on PC for example. Creation of a “whitelist” of preferred devices to connect via Bluetooth. Add a regular expression search option in the application dashboard search bar. Add tutorial videos to help the user and refine the onboarding journey. One Product, Two Enclosures To be completely honest, we started by designing a fully custom-made enclosure (and we are proud of it!): But the financial reality caught up with us: the production of an enclosure like that requires the conception and machining of metal molds for plastic injection, and it represents a significant financial investment: at least 20 500€. And we will have to produce them by 500 units minimum. This is why we created another version, based on a generic enclosure, our “V1”: If, thanks to you, we achieve 175% of our financial goal, 35 000€, we will then move on directly to the second step and produce our custom-made enclosure for all pre-orders! That being said, if enclosures are different, the available features are the same and so are the components inside: Our Security Pledges Why is Locknest a secure device? This hardware accelerated module has been tested using the German BSI statistical tests of AIS-31. It provides full entropy outputs to the application. It will be used to construct a NIST (SP 800-90) compliant Deterministic Random Bit Generator, acting as a live entropy source. This module encrypts and decrypts data using an algorithm and implementation fully compliant with the AES, as defined in the Federal information processing standards (FIPS) publication 197. Key size can be up to 256 bits. This module provides acceleration of RSA, DH and ECC operations. The use of these modules offers the best balance between data protection and speed. How Can Locknest Be Secured With a Master Key as Small as 7 Digits? To reach our simplicity and security pledges, we studied various attack scenarios with the aim of finding the best protection mechanisms. A 7-digit PIN is our answer, and this is why: Regarding the cold storage plan, that we will launch by the end of the year, data will obviously be stored on dedicated, up-to-date, monitored and with restricted access servers. We anticipate two additional cipherings on top of the initial Locknest ciphering. One for which the deciphering key is only known by the owner, one for which the deciphering key is only known to LockNest Group. As for the described scenarios, we will select the ciphering algorithms among the recommended ones in order to provide the best security for your data. Why Is Locknest More Secure Than Online Password Manager? First, simply storing your data physically in an independent safe reduces the number of vulnerabilities: reducing the number of links in a chain, however robust, remains the most effective! All the more so if most are really weak… Second, with an online database, each time a request is made to retrieve your data, it will transit on the Internet. Of course, encryption protects them, but as the saying goes: once is enough. Rather than being always available on the Internet, with Locknest, your secrets are only sent to the Web if needed. The Locknest app communicates with Locknest via Bluetooh or via USB. On a smartphone, the autofill feature is handled by the Android system. And on a computer, it’s only via the Chrome plugin, which uses HTTPS, that your secrets (and only the ones you need) are made available to the Web page. Our Simplicity Pledges Why Buy a Locknest if Chrome and Android Already Remember Passwords for You? First, for security reasons: there is nothing better than a dedicated solution, which is totally transparent. Nothing obscure with us: your authentication information is stored inside your device, you (and only you!) access it from our web or mobile application. To automatically fill out forms, you use our Chrome extension or the autofill service on your Android mobile. There is no synchronization to do between your PC and your Android mobile, since it is the Locknest key that is at the center of the system. You do not lose any data switching from one device to another and you always know where your information is. Our device is robust and it is the sole holder of your secrets, so you are better protected than with a multiplicity of solutions where the vulnerability of a single one can expose the whole chain. How to Avoid Being Helpless in Case of Loss of the Locknest? Loosing one’s keys happens. That’s why we make duplicates. It’s the same for your Locknest: by buying two devices, you will be able to very easily save the data from your primary Locknest on your secondary one. This second Locknest, thus synchronized, ensures that you never lose your data. In a second step, an online backup subscription will be available. If you are particularly interested in this feature, let us know in the comments! Our product development is user-driven, so we always welcome your feedback.