This week there was suddenly some tension around the hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger. A now-deleted tweet from a “customer service representative” believed that Ledger could access customers’ private keys through certain firmware. The company’s CTO, Charles Guillemet, has now commented.
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I’ve read several misconceptions about how a wallet works. It seems some people thought there is some magic, let me explain how it works.A thread 👇
— Charles Guillemet (@P3b7_) May 18, 2023
Ledger in the corner
The original tweet that caused all the fuss reads as follows:
“Technically, it has always been possible to write firmware that facilitates key extraction. Whether you knew it or not, you always trusted Ledger not to use firmware like that.”
Unsurprisingly, the tweet caused tension and anger on Twitter. Critics say Ledger is lying to customers about the security of his hardware wallet. A message from the company was also pointed out in November last year. Then it was said that “a firmware update can never extract the private keys.” Ledger seems to contradict himself.
According to Guillemet, the customer service representative used “confusing wording” in the now-deleted tweet. He tries to clear up the confusion with a long and technical series of Twitter messages. The bottom line is that Ledger’s operating system can never access customers’ private keys without their permission.
Should we be very concerned?
Despite Guillemet’s explanation, the criticism has all but disappeared. According to a comment Guillemet’s story is far too long and far too technical for the masses to understand. Besides, the damage seems to have already been done. Either way, it’s a big blow to Ledger’s confidence. In the near future it will become clear what the problem will do to the manufacturer’s market share.
In general, you probably don’t have to worry too much if you use a hardware wallet. A hardware wallet is by far the safest way to store your precious crypto. However, it is not 100 percent safe. In theory, there always seem to be complex ways things can go wrong. According to Guillemet, the only alternative is to build a wallet yourself, but this process is extremely complicated. He calls this process a “life project”.