NitroKey 3 A NFC questions

Nitrokeys FIDO2 / Nitrokey 3
1

Hi

I just bought a HW Key from a different big vendor, and I am VERY happy with it!
But I am looking for a backup from a different company, and hence NitroKey.

So I have some questions:

  1. Why is there no factsheet for NK3? (all other devices have one, and as far as I understood, the NK3 is presold for a quit long time now)

  2. “Aufgrund des Strombedarfs kann das sichere Element nur per USB aber nicht per NFC verwendet werden.”
    ??? Is this still correct?
    I guess that means that no OTP no passwordless FIDO2, no PGP … when using NFC?
    With the competition stick I can eg. decode a mail encrypted to my 4096 bit RSA key by tapping the stick to my phone for 2-3 sec. eg in K-9 Mail.

What about SW support?
As far as I understoof NitroKey App has not been updated for over 2 years, and does not support NK3.
There seems to be a stopgap Python CLI implementation.
I have read that NitrKey App 2 is in the works, that will support NK3.
When is the ETA for that?
What platforms does it support? (Linux, Windows, Android would be the minimum for me)

Why is Android/iOS not on the supported platforms in the store?
Are they really unsupported?

How will the password manager be implemented and how many slots? (as this is a feature which is not available on the Y competitor device)

Are the NK3 A NFC currently available using the LPC55S6x processor? (If not when will LPC based NK3s be back?)
The NFC HW issue (no power) is fixed in the currently sold devices, correct?

For reference, what I currently do with my HW stick:
FIDO/FIDO2 (2FA and passwordless)
TOPT/HOPT
proprietary Y*** OTP
GPG Card 3.4
X.509 smartcard (do not really use it, just imported a S/MIME cert, but that worked.)

I hope you can answer my questions, and please also extend the Nitroke 3 FAQ with the answers and the questions:

PS: On the Windows Download you link Windows EXE download here, which links to a Github page, were I could not find any EXE files …)
PPS: The FAQ is really minimalistic, and does NOT answer frequently asked questions, I hope you will extend this in the future, thanx.

2

Are there any NitroKey employees reading here?
I think those are pretty basic questions … but after 10 days there is still no answer …
I want to understand what I get, when I buy a NitroKey, so please answer my questions.
Thank you in advance!

3

Hey @ricsi

Why is there no factsheet for NK3?

The Nitrokey 3 is a constantly evolving product, there will be one at some point, but currently there simply is none

“Aufgrund des Strombedarfs kann das sichere Element nur per USB aber nicht per NFC verwendet werden.”
??? Is this still correct?

Yes, that’s correct - and likely this will not change for the SE050. Maybe there will be some operations made available despite FIDO2 at some point, but currently there is only FIDO2 available through NFC.

What about SW support? When is the ETA for that? (Nitrokey App2)

No ETA yet. All non-mobile platforms are targeted for now.

Why is Android/iOS not on the supported platforms in the store?

That’s wrong on the shop-pages, we’ll update that, thanks. Android and iOS are indeed supported.

How will the password manager be implemented and how many slots? (as this is a feature which is not available on the Y competitor device)

How? Ahm, using “software” ? :nerd_face: The amount of slots will depend on the contents of each slot, currently we assume a ballpark of several hundred. If “how” means “how can I access the password-safe”, then: Access will be realized through pynitrokey and nitrokey-app2, mid-term we are looking into an integration as a plugin for other password managers, but nothing started/decided yet.

Are the NK3 A NFC currently available using the LPC55S6x processor?

NK3A NFC and NK3C NFC are all LPC55S6x, the NK3mini is nRF52 based.

The NFC HW issue (no power) is fixed in the currently sold devices, correct?

Yes, although we still see isolated incompatibilities with smartphone devices from time to time. But overall NFC works reliably for the majority of devices and users as far as we know.

Thanks for the hints for the executable and FAQ, will take this with me.

best

4

Do not expect to get that (the interface is OpenPGP) on a Nitrokey 3A NFC for quite some time i.e. months.

5

Hi, I am not able to use NFC (Nitrokey 3A NFC) without USB power on a Huawei P30 lite.
It would be great if you had some suggestions to troubleshoot the issues.

  • Is it worth looking at the serial number to check if this is indeed a device that is new enough to have the fix?
  • Is a firmware update required to make it work?
    Thanks for your support