General product-specific questions and answers.
Yes, at time when generating new keys only. If you use Thunderbird or GnuPG for instance it allows you to do a backup when generating new keys. Technically the keys are generated on your computer, backed-up, and then loaded to the Nitrokey so that they cannot leave it afterwards. Alternatively you can generate keys on the Nitrokey directly but this does not allow a backup.
See the frontpage for an overview of supported use cases.
Supported operating systems: Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.
Supported applications: See the documentation.
Nitrokey Pro, Nitrokey Start, Nitrokey HSM and Nitrokey U2F don't contain storage capability for ordinary data (it can only store cryptographic keys and certificates).
Nitrokey Storage can store and encrypt 8, 32, or 64 GB of data (depending on particular model).
We strongly recommend to change these PINs/password to user-chosen values before using the Nitrokey.
The Nitrokey Pro, Nitrokey Start and Nitrokey Storage can store three RSA key pairs. All keys use the same identity but are used for different purposes: authentication, encryption and signing.
Nitrokey HSM can store 32 RSA and 40 ECC key pairs.
Nitrokey U2F stores a single ECC key pair but can be used with an unlimited amount of user accounts.
As part of hybrid encryption, additional symmetric encryption (e.g. AES) is performed on the computer and only the session key is send to the Nitrokey (to be decrypted with RSA). This is a standard mechanism and allows optimal performance even for large amounts of data.
In general the encryption and decryption of emails, hard disks and any other type of (large) data with the Nitrokey has almost no performance reduction. This is because of hybrid encryption approach. It means that AES for example is used to encrypt gigabytes of data at the computer and only the session key is send to the Nitrokey to be decrypted with RSA.
Nitrokey HSM:
Nitrokey Storage's mass storage: Storing files on the encrypted mass storage is 5-6 MByte/s fast (both read/write).
Nitrokey Pro and Storage
Internal performance for a single 16 byte block without input/output to the smart card:
Nitrokey Pro, Nitrokey HSM and Nitrokey Storage contain a tamper resistant smart card. To some extent this also applies to Nitrokey U2F but it's of lower quality. Nitrokey Start is implemented in the microprocessor.
Nitrokey uses PINs instead of passwords. The main difference is that the hardware limits the amount of tries to three while a limit doesn't exist for passwords. Because of this, a short PIN is still secure and there is not need to choose a long and complex PIN.
Nitrokey Pro's and Storage's PINs can be up to 20 digits long and can consist of numbers, characters and special characters. Note: When using GnuPG or OpenSC, 32 character long PINs can be used but aren't supported by Nitrokey App.
Nitrokey HSM: In OpenSC the function C_GenerateRandom is mapped to the random number generator of the device. However, engine-pkcs11 doesn't contain a mapping for OpenSSL to C_GenerateRandom. Hence, it doesn't work yet. It would be required to implement the mapping in engine-pkcs11 to C_GenerateRandom.
Nitrokey Pro and Nitrokey Storage: Both devices are compatible to the OpenPGP Card, so that scdrand should work (untested).
Nitrokey Pro and Nitrokey Storage:
Nitrokey Pro and Nitrokey Storage use a True Random Number Generator (TRNG) for generating keys on the device. The entropy generated by the TRNG is used for the entire key length. Therefore the TRNG is compliant to BSI TR-03116.
Nitrokey HSM:
Nitrokey HSM uses the TRNG of JCOP 2.4.1r3 which has a quality of DRNG.2 (according to AIS 31 of the BSI).
Nitrokey HSM:
65536 dataobjects (DF, EF) can be created. Each EF can have a size of up to 65535 byte. The total storage capacity of ca. 35 KByte is shared dynamically among keys and data objects.
Nitrokey's products as a whole aren't Common Criteria or FIPS certified but are available as Open Source for own evaluations.
Cure53 has performed an independent security audit of the Nitrokey Storage's hardware, firmware, and Nitrokey App.
The security controler's hardware is Common Criteria certified (Report; See here, click "ICs, Smart Cards and Smart Card-Related Devices and Systems" and search for "NXP Smart Card Controller P5CD081V1A and its major configurations P5CC081V1A, P5CN081V1A, P5CD041V1A, P5CD021V1A and P5CD016V1A each with IC dedicated Software").
The security controler's hardware is Common Criteria certified (Report; See here, click "ICs, Smart Cards and Smart Card-Related Devices and Systems" and search for "NXP Smart Card Controller P5CD081V1A and its major configurations P5CC081V1A, P5CN081V1A, P5CD041V1A, P5CD021V1A and P5CD016V1A each with IC dedicated Software").
The security controler's hardware and operating system are Common Criteria certified (Report; See here, click "ICs, Smart Cards and Smart Card-Related Devices and Systems" and search for "NXP J3A080 v2.4.1 Secure Smart Card Controller (JCOP v2.4.1)").
Usage-specific questions and answers.
If you experience the following error under Linux:
$ gpg --card-status OR $ gpg --card-edit
gpg: selecting openpgp failed: unknown command
gpg: OpenPGP card not available: general error
You can execute the following command to solve the problem for the current session only: "pkill -f gnome-keyring-daemon". See this and that discussion to solve the problem permanently.
Now, plug in your Nitrokey and use it with GnuPG.
To undo the change in order to use it with OpenSC:
Linux: $ tail -v /var/log/syslog
Mac OS: $ tail -f /var/log/system.log
Windows: Start -> Preferences -> Control Panel -> System -> Hardware -> Device Manager -> Smart card adapter
Check if GnuPG recognizes the device: gpg --card-status resp. gpg2 --card-status (depending on the version) should deliver some status information of the Nitrokey.
Verify to use a current version of GnuPG, at least 1.4.10 resp 2.0.18.
Try using GnuPG 1 instead of GnuPG 2.
Remove the packages openct and opensc because they may interfere with GnuPG.
Use 2048 bit keys instead of 3072 or 4096 bit keys.
Test the Nitrokey on another computer or with another operating system.
Reset the device and delete all keys.
Add the following lines to ~/.gnupg/scdaemon.conf and provide the resulting log file for debugging purposes, where <username> is the name of your user account.
debug 2048
log-file /home/<username>/scdaemonlog.txt
Detailed instructions how to install and setup your Nitrokey with Fedora Linux.
Delete the file /Library/Preferences/com.apple.keyboardtype.plist and restart your computer.
Option 1, if the device is not fully blocked and if you remember the valid Admin PIN use Nitrokey App to unblock the Nitrokey. Your keys won't be lost:
Open a terminal (on Windows: Press the Start button and enter "cmd") and start the Nitrokey App with "nitrokey-app --admin". Klick on the Nitrokey App's tray icon, select "Configuration" and "factory settings".
Option 2, to reset a blocked device, Windows only:
Use CryptoStickReset.
Option 3, to reset a blocked device with GnuPG 2 and Windows:
Option 4, to reset a blocked device with GnuPG 2 and Linux:
Option 5, to reset a blocked device with GnuPG 2.1:
Option 6, to reset a blocked device using OpenSC:
Install OpenSC and execute "openpgp-tool --erase" in a terminal.
You can find out the version of your device by executing gpg --card-status
In order to reset a Nitrokey Start 1.0, you need to define a public key for firmware updates beforehand! In case of a blocked device it enables your to perform a firmware update which resets the device.
You may also define a reset code which enables the reset of the User PIN (not Admin PIN).
As long as you know the unblocked SO-PIN you can initialize the device as described here. There is no way of resetting the Nitrokey HSM if the SO-PIN is forgotten or entered wrongly 15 times. In such case the device can't be used anymore.
Prerequisite: An initialized Nitrokey with keys being generated.
On another computer, than the one you generated the keys on, you need to inform GnuPG about the Nitrokey. You have two options for doing so:
If you published your public key on your website you should program that URL into your smartcard in the "URL of public key" section (gpg --card-edit, admin, url). In addition or instead you may want to publish your public key on a key server. When you get to a new computer, you can insert the card, run "gpg --card-edit", then run "fetch" and GPG will fetch the public key from the URL. If there's no URL entered then it will attempt to retrieve the public key from the keyserver.
Alternatively, you can copy and import the public key manually from a flash drive for instance. In this case you have to insert the device and run "gpg --card-status". (Now the general key info will be correctly populated, and new pseudo-secret stubs will be created.)
In any case the keyring file (e.g. ~/.gnupg/pubring.gpg) which contains the public keys of your contacts has to be copied manually.
See this more detailed description.
See these instructions.
Execute the following commands in a terminal.
$ sudo apt-add-repository ppa:gurqn/systray-utopic
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get upgrade
Logout and login again to your computer account.
Nitrokey Start doesn't support overriding keys. Once generated or written, you should use the Python script gnuk_remove_keys_libusb.py to remove keys.
GnuPG blocks the smart card so that other applications can't access it in "parallel" (within several minutes or within the same user session).
Solutions:
1. This gives up on the card immediately:
Put "card-timeout 1" int scdaemon.conf and run "gpg-connect-agent disconnect /bye" if you do not need the OpenPGP card anymore. 3. Patch GnuPG itself and recompile:
Change PCSC_SHARE_EXCLUSIVE to PCSC_SHARE_SHARED.
From
err = pcsc_connect (reader_table[slot].pcsc.context,
reader_table[slot].rdrname,
PCSC_SHARE_EXCLUSIVE,
PCSC_PROTOCOL_T0|PCSC_PROTOCOL_T1,
&reader_table[slot].pcsc.card,
&reader_table[slot].pcsc.protocol);
to
err = pcsc_connect (reader_table[slot].pcsc.context,
reader_table[slot].rdrname,
PCSC_SHARE_SHARED,
PCSC_PROTOCOL_T0|PCSC_PROTOCOL_T1,
&reader_table[slot].pcsc.card,
&reader_table[slot].pcsc.protocol);
Location:
GnuPG 2.0.18 or newer. We recommend the 2.0 main version. 2.1 is still a bit unstable in our experience.
OpenSC 0.16 or newer. Version 0.15 is not sufficient and you would need its nightly builds or compile it from their git repository.
libccid 1.4.22 or newer.
Nitrokey Pro and Nitrokey Storage expose a USB Human Interface Device (HID) which some virtualization systems don't pass to the guest systems by default. Hence the VM needs to be configured appropriately. How to do this for VMware is described here.
Letter and Registered Mail:
Parcel:
The Nitrokey UG has a heterogeneous customer base, private and enterprise customers, from Germany as well as inside and outside of the EU. With the pricing we want to ensure that all customers pay a uniform rate. For example, a large international corporation should pay just as much as a German private customer. Accordingly, the gross price (incl. VAT) for German private customers equals the net price (excluding VAT) for enterprise customers outside of the EU. This approach has been audited and is legally correct.
Read the instructions about programming the Nitrokey Pro/Start/HSM.