Ian Rogers, CXO of Ledger, and Charles Guillemet, CTO, dive into Ledger’s open-source approach to digital ownership. They discuss the misconceptions about security in open source, especially in hardware. The duo explores how Ledger balances transparency and proprietary tech while addressing challenges in securing hardware wallets. They reveal the complexities of open source software versus hardware, the importance of physical security, and the critical need for genuine security practices, all while paving the way for future innovations.
Ledger's commitment to open source development fosters community engagement while balancing the need for proprietary security features in their ecosystem.
The use of dedicated secure hardware, like smart card technology, significantly enhances the protection of users' digital assets against various threats.
Deep dives
Ledger's Open Source Philosophy
Ledger embraces open source principles and actively develops open platforms for developers to create applications on their ecosystem. While Ledger supports open source development, not all of its code is open source due to certain architectural and security considerations. For instance, the company maintains a proprietary operating system that leverages countermeasures built into secure hardware, ensuring the highest levels of security for users' assets. By sharing some components on GitHub, Ledger encourages community involvement and transparency, allowing developers to build and integrate their decentralized applications within the Ledger environment.
The Importance of Secure Hardware
The podcast emphasizes the necessity of using dedicated secure hardware to protect users' digital assets effectively. Ledger has chosen smart card technology—proven over decades in applications such as banking and government—to secure cryptographic operations and key management. This choice allows for separate execution environments where security-sensitive processes are isolated from the general application layer, reducing the risk of compromise. Contrary to competitors that utilize general-purpose microcontrollers, Ledger's approach ensures high resistance to both physical and software attacks, providing users unparalleled security.
Countermeasures and Security Evaluations
Ledger's devices incorporate various countermeasures to defend against physical attacks, ensuring that if a device is tampered with, user data and cryptographic keys remain protected. The technology relies not only on a hardened supply chain but also on ongoing security evaluations conducted by third-party experts. These evaluations provide assurance that Ledger devices do not include backdoors and that they maintain the integrity of the user's secret through advanced cryptographic practices. This level of scrutiny elevates the standard of security within the cryptocurrency hardware wallet landscape.
Future of Security and Open Source Integration
Looking forward, Ledger aims to enhance its open source contributions while balancing the complexities of managing secure hardware. Although certain low-level code and components will remain proprietary to protect valuable intellectual property, the company is committed to making more of its codebase available for community review and contributions. Ledger's roadmap includes a vision reminiscent of the Raspberry Pi model, which supports secure operations while encouraging user-driven development. The focus on continuous improvement and security audit processes positions Ledger as a leader in offering robust protection against evolving threats in the digital asset space.
At Ledger, our mission is to make digital ownership easy to use without ever compromising on security or self custody.Ledger is secure by design: we continuously strive to implement the most secure solutions at every stage, as endorsed by security experts.With that in mind, listen to our CXO Ian Rogers and our CTO Charles Guillemet to understand more about our approach to open source in this podcast.