A Brief Overview of the Ledger Controversy
At the beginning of May 2023, Ledger, a wallet manufacturer with an extensive user base, sparked controversy after releasing news about its firmware update. Before the company published the news on Twitter, Ledger users lived under the impression that Ledger doesn’t, and will never have access to users’ recovery seeds, a critical layer of security surrounding their crypto assets. And although the first part is true, the introduction of a new feature that would technically allow them access to seed phrases is about to change everything.
Ledger was a reputable service provider, primarily because it based its business on offering cold storage solutions and reassuring its users that they had ultimate control over their funds. Imagine the betrayal after that same company introduced a feature that essentially allows users to recover their funds without a seed phrase, as they would be the ones to keep it for you!
Source: imgflip
Of course, Ledger users expressed extreme dissatisfaction with Ledger’s decision to meddle with security matters. And wouldn’t you know it, Trezor, one of the Ledger’s biggest rivals, conveniently used this PR mess as an opportunity to attract the devastated Ledger users.
On the same day the tweet above was published, Trezor began offering discounts as an additional way to entice users to buy their product. Their Twitter account is filled with promotional messages, giving people more reasons to cut ties with Ledger and join the Trezor community.
Obviously, this approach to marketing was a success. In a recent press release published on May 25th, this crypto giant reported a 900% rise in sales amidst the Ledger debacle.
In Trezor, we believe that hardware wallets – cold storages that promise 100% self-custody should, at no stage, make the seed phrase accessible to anyone but the user.
Trezor CEO Matěj Žák said in a press statement published on Crypto Slate.
Trezor also highlighted to Crypto Slate that it is an open-source company. As a result, independent experts carefully scrutinize each step of the company’s operations to ensure that no remote seed phrase extraction is ever attempted.
Is Everything OK at Trezor?
While Trezor is celebrating a new surge of users, a security firm called Unciphered is claiming the ability to physically hack into the Trezor T’s hardware wallet. Just as Trezor found the right timing to promote its products, so has this security firm, raising concerns about Trezor’s security.
However, as reported by Crypto Slate, the CEO of Trezor responded to these claims by suggesting that the company had already identified the RDP downgrade attack vulnerability in a 2020 blog post. The CEO further states that for this attack to be successful, it “requires the physical theft of a device and highly sophisticated technological knowledge and advanced equipment.”
Source: Trezor
Regarding the same topic, the CEO of Trezor told Crypto Slate that a strong passphrase will protect Trezor wallets, adding an additional security layer to users’ crypto and rendering an RDP downgrade useless.
Based on what we know so far, Trezor is navigating through the Ledger controversy and responding to claims made by Unciphered like a pro.
If we’ve learned anything from this debacle, it is the importance of remaining vigilant when selecting a wallet service and being willing to switch to a different provider if you feel uncomfortable. There are always alternative options available to meet your security needs.
