Pitchfork PKCS#11

PKCS #11 is the de facto standard for cryptographic tokens controlling authentication information (personal identity, cryptographic keys, certificates, digital signatures, biometric data). Due to the age of the standard, it was lacking a number of modern, so called 'quantum-resistant' algorithms. This small project enables open source developers from the Pitchfork project to contribute a number of important algorithms to the OASIS PKCS #11 standards committee in time for the pending new version of PKCS #11.

The PITCHFORK is a free/libre hardware device for compartmentalizing key material and cryptographic operations in a small and durable USB device. It uses a Cortex-M3 processor and stores all keys in the CPUs flash. The PITCHFORK has an embedded radio interface over which it can do secure key exchanges with other devices, including "post-quantum" cryptography. Over USB it can send and receive messages using various modern low-level crypto protocols providing different aspects of overall security. Stef Marsiske from the Pitchfork project team joined the OASIS PKCS #11 standards committee to make sure the intersection of PKCS#11 supported algorithms and Pitchfork algorithms is no longer empty.