enigmastick

The hardware

A small board.
A lot to explore.

USB on one end. A secure element at the center. Enigma Stick puts an ESP32-C3 and an NXP SE051 on a board you can build software around.

Coming soon - pending hardware validation

Illustration of the exposed Enigma Stick v1.1 board, showing the USB-C connector, central secure element, buttons, and shielded ESP32-C3 module.
Enigma Stick · PCB v1.1Illustration of the current board design

Inside the stick

Two chips.
Distinct responsibilities.

The ESP handles communication and coordination. The SE051 holds customer secret keys and performs the cryptographic operations.

NXP SE051
Secure-element storage for customer private and symmetric keys, with on-chip signing, encryption, authentication, and key derivation.
ESP32-C3
Runs the firmware, receives USB commands, manages PIN-authenticated sessions, and stores key metadata in NVS.
USB-C connection
The host tools communicate with the firmware over a framed binary USB protocol.
I²C connection
Connects the ESP to the secure element. An authenticated, encrypted ESP-to-SE session is established after unlock.

The current revision

An exposed board,
for now.

The board pictured is revision 1.1. The firmware has been exercised on development hardware; the custom PCB is still pending validation with test boards.

An enclosure is envisioned for a later stage. The exposed PCB is the current form of the project.

Board designs and fabrication files will be linked from the project directory when they are ready to publish. There is no hardware sale planned at this time.

Hardware source status

Explore the interface

From board to software.