The new Copay wallet works with three new technologies: Intel® Software Guard Extensions (SGX), Intel® Identity Protection Technology (IPT) and Intel® Protected Transaction Display (PTD).
Intel’s SGX extension essentially allows sensitive data and operations - like wallet private keys and transaction signing - to take place in a secure environment, away from OS software components that may be compromised with keyloggers. “For Copay users with desktop wallets, this means that bitcoin private key generation, bitcoin transaction signing, and private key storage are secured – even if the Copay wallet's code is compromised or the machine is infected with a virus or malware,” says BitPay
BitPay’s Copay wallet makes use of Intel’s PTD & IPT technology, which throws up a randomly-arranged keypad for users to enter a 4-digit pin code, before any important operation takes place:
“Each time this PIN pad appears, the keys will appear in a different order. This presentation helps to prevent potential attackers from detecting user PINs with mouse-click location display coordinates.”Code that is executed within the SGX enclave is also protected from virus infections in BIOS, VMM and drivers, giving Copay users the same level of protection as other hardware bitcoin wallets like TREZOR & Ledger.
At press time, the hardware-level security is not available on Copay, however, Bipay has said there is an ongoing collaboration with Intel to deliver this functionality in the near future.
