USB armory: an open-source hardware design, flash-drive sized computer

i PERFECTLY understand why so called "news articles" don't put a link to the product that they are reviewing.

They don't want users to click links and go away.

I wonder if it's one of the chips that has a bootloader vulnerability. All of the trustzone stuff was completely broken on their original, and nobody ever implemented working code for it anyway.

The BOM cost is probably pretty high because of the BGA package, the original was like a 8 layer board or something absurd.

Those processors, as you pointed out, are comically slow even compared with the raspberry pi.

The ATECC608A is a very nice feature. I have an older version of the USB Armory--i.MX53 and USB-A. The cryptographic engine (SCCv2), and in particular the AES module with unique, secret eFUSE'd key (for creating a proper HSM) was poorly documented. NXP only made security component documentation available under NDA, and to achieve that you needed to work with a reseller, which after repeated attempts over many weeks I never managed to accomplish. Plus, even if I got the documentation, the keyed AES module only worked properly if you had secure boot working, otherwise it used a fixed test key rather than an alternative unique key. This was such a steep hill to climb that none of the example or open source applications ever made proper use of the AES module, AFAIK.

I ended up simply buying a Pi 3, a Mikroe Click shield, and Mikroe ATECC608A board (for the shield), though by that time I had already run out of steam so I never had a chance to bring it up.

So, the ATECC608A is very nice and I'd like to see it more widely included in hardware.[1] And the armory is much smaller than my literal Pi 3 hardware stack. Bonus points if documentation for i.MX6ULZ and related bits are publicly available, but I'm not keen on risking another goose chase so I probably wouldn't even factor that in one way or another.

[1] I believe an ATECC chip is what AWS originally used for end-to-end hardware attestation of EC2 servers. And maybe still do. Though, this is speculation on my part based on some AWS developer blog posts discussing the chip.

> Pi Zero outspecs it for 5% of the cost

Does Pi do USB device "emulation" (has it "gadget" drivers)?

The production costs are way more than 15 USD, you have to account for the 6 layers PCB, assembly and a BOM which is higher than what you suggest.

We can take costs down a little more with larger numbers but not by a great margin.

The assembly process of Type-C plugs is also time consuming and therefore costly.

My note/doubt wasn't about inserting/plugging/unplugging it (I am pretty sure that is fine or at least as fine as any other USB-C device), it is about leaving it plugged (and sticking out without support) to a PC or some other device (thus exposed to accidental hits).

And if at the end of it there is another little device plugged (or a cable) in the female connector, little by little the weight might losen the receptacle of the PC or however put too much traction on the connector soldering or even (I have seen it happening with some devices) slightly bend the board.