Trezor, a hardware wallet manufacturer, has released a detailed report refuting claims made by Ledger, another hardware wallet manufacturer, that its wallet can easily be compromised.

As per the response published on the official Trezor blog, the hardware manufacturer said that the issues raised by Ledger are not a threat not to its hardware wallet but also to any other hardware wallet.

There Must Be Physical Access

Reason? The vulnerabilities pointed out by Ledger cannot be used to compromise the wallet without physically accessing the device. Additionally, the accessing party must have the technical knowledge and the necessary equipment to be able to exploit the vulnerability.

The issues raised by Ledger include supply chain attack, software crappy attack, side channel attack pin, side channel attack scalar multiplication, and surprise concluding attack.

A recent survey which involved Binance, a leading cryptocurrency exchange, and which Trezor included in its response, recorded that more than 60 percent of respondents see remote attacks as the biggest threat to their digital wealth stored in hardware wallets while less than 10 percent are worried that physical attacks are the deadliest to their digital wealth.

In its response, Trezor indicated that there is no protection currently available against a user being forced by malicious actors to reveal their password a situation known as wrench attack. However, when a Trezor wallet is stolen without having knowledge of the password, “the probability of cracking is relatively small as the criminals will not be able to find the necessary equipment.”

The vulnerabilities on the Trezor wallet were raised by Ledger during MITBitcoinExpo which recently took place at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The vulnerabilities raised ranged from minor to critical.

One issue that stood out is the surprise concluding attack, which Trezor said:

“We are surprised by Ledger’s announcement of this issue, especially after being explicitly asked by Ledger not to publicize the issue, due to possible implications for the whole microchip industry, beyond hardware wallets, such as medical and automotive industries.”

Trezor Vs. Ledger

Still deciding which wallet to use to store your crypto? Don’t leave without reading our analysis breakdown on the Trezor and Ledger wallets here.