37 lines
2.2 KiB
Markdown
37 lines
2.2 KiB
Markdown
Security parameter choice
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The present Bcrypt security parameter used is 12, which should take about a quarter of a second on midrange consumer hardware (see [Benchmarking](#benchmarking) section below).
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For some background into security parameter considerations, see [here](https://auth0.com/blog/hashing-in-action-understanding-bcrypt/) and [here](https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/3959/recommended-of-iterations-when-using-pkbdf2-sha256/3993#3993).
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Given our security model, where an attacker would need to already have access to a victim's computer and copy the `~/.gaiacli` directory (as opposed to e.g. web authentication), this parameter choice seems sufficient for the time being. Bcrypt always generates a 448-bit key, so the security in practice is determined by the length & complexity of a user's password and the time taken to generate a Bcrypt key from their password (which we can choose with the security parameter). Users would be well-advised to use difficult-to-guess passwords.
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Benchmarking
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------------
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To run Bcrypt benchmarks:
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```bash
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go test -v --bench github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/crypto/keys/mintkey
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```
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On the test machine (midrange ThinkPad; i7 6600U), this results in:
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```bash
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goos: linux
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goarch: amd64
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pkg: github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/crypto/keys/mintkey
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BenchmarkBcryptGenerateFromPassword/benchmark-security-param-9-4 50 34609268 ns/op
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BenchmarkBcryptGenerateFromPassword/benchmark-security-param-10-4 20 67874471 ns/op
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BenchmarkBcryptGenerateFromPassword/benchmark-security-param-11-4 10 135515404 ns/op
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BenchmarkBcryptGenerateFromPassword/benchmark-security-param-12-4 5 274824600 ns/op
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BenchmarkBcryptGenerateFromPassword/benchmark-security-param-13-4 2 547012903 ns/op
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BenchmarkBcryptGenerateFromPassword/benchmark-security-param-14-4 1 1083685904 ns/op
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BenchmarkBcryptGenerateFromPassword/benchmark-security-param-15-4 1 2183674041 ns/op
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PASS
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ok github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/crypto/keys/mintkey 12.093s
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```
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Benchmark results are in nanoseconds, so security parameter 12 takes about a quarter of a second to generate the Bcrypt key, security param 13 takes half a second, and so on.
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