When did the project begin?

Since August 2008.

How many active members does the project have?

The core team consists of three Persons. About 10 Persons are supportingthe project and took responsibilities for smaller parts.

Why was the project created?

We were facing the problem to encrypt e-mails securely in internet cafes while beeing travelling. Pure software solutions implicate the risk that malware on the computer steals the secret key which allows to intercept all encrypted communication. The only solution to prevent it is to use a secure device - the Crypto Stick.

Why should a CeBIT visitor come to your booth?

Nowadays secure authentication in the Internet, encryption of e-mail and data are more important than ever, for every computer user. The Crypto Stick is the central basis. At our Cebit booth the visitor can get information how to encrypt e-mails and data and how to use the Crypto Stick.
Also we give insight in the development of the Crypto Stick. Because we are a hardware project this may be interesting variety compared to other open source projects.

As a goody we raffle off Crypto Sticks to all booth visitors on a daily basis. Therefore you must come around!

Who do you make your software for?

The Crypto Stick can be used by any Internet and computer user easily. Use cases are e-mail encryption (e.g. OpenPGP, S/MIME), data encryption (e.g. via TrueCrypt), user authentication locally and in the Internet. The Crypto Stick kann be used to replace passwords and can be used in the future as the only key for the digital identity. Therefore the Crypto Stick is highly flexible and targets both personal as well as cooperate users.

Where do you see your biggest current challenges?

Currently we are very busy developing an encrypted mass storage which allows to store and encrypt several gigabyte of data. A challenge in particular is to achieve a high performance.

If you could hire a full-time project developer now, what problem should he or she be ready to solve?

The PKCS#11 driver, which enables the usage with TrueCrypt and Firefox, is not stable yet and should be published as open source. This work could easily be assigned to another developer.

Under which license is the software currently offered?

The software is publishes as GPLv3 and the hardware as Creative Commons.

Internet adress:

www.crypto-stick.org