I'll repeat my question in case you missed it.
Is Clef really enhancing security, or is it adding a new possible exploit vector? It seems that sites using Clef now have to trust Clef not to compromise their users' accounts (deliberately or otherwise). Is that correct? If so, that seems like it weakens security rather than strengthening it.
Before Clef: I use MtGox. I have to trust MtGox not to steal my coins or get hacked.
After Clef: I use MtGox and Clef. I have to trust both MtGox AND Clef not to steal my coins or get hacked.
With Clef, I've doubled the number of institutions who I need to trust.
Or do I have it wrong? I'd be interested in integrating Clef into Just-Dice if it really does strengthen security.
Hey dooglas, using Clef definitely strengthens your overall security!
Instead of using passwords and seeds (which need to be stored centrally and can be stolen), Clef uses public-key crypto to log users in. That means that most hacks against a Clef-protected account are completely impossible (you can see more at getclef.com/security). If Clef is hacked, we only have the public keys and so there’s nothing for an attacker to steal or use against the user.
You do need to trust Clef for us to provide that protection. In the pre-Clef model, every developer is asked to stay informed about and re-implement best security practices on their own and we know that many developers are making mistakes or falling out of date. At Clef, we’re focused on doing one thing well and we’re much more likely to get it right.
As for whether you can trust that we’re not a malicious company — there are a couple of useful pieces of information:
* We’re a venture-backed company, so we’ve passed background checks and the company is well documented
* Our address and the names of our team are all listed on our about page (getclef.com/about)
* Clef has been around for more than 2 years and protects nearly 50,000 sites
Early on, we experimented with sharing public keys with sites that implemented Clef so that they could verify signatures (so they could trust us even less). We found that most sites preferred a simpler integration and that the sites that did the extra work frequently messed up some of the crypto because they didn’t understand it. That lowered the security and the usability of the system, so we stopped sharing them, but it’s something we still think about. I’d be happy to hear your thoughts about this.
tl;dr - to use Clef, you have to trust us, but public key auth is much harder to hack, so the overall security is way stronger
