Wallet Logo

CERBER

🔍 Last analysed 3rd December 2021 . No source for current release found

Jump to verdict 

Do your own research!

Try out searching for "lost bitcoins", "stole my money" or "scammers" together with the wallet's name, even if you think the wallet is generally trustworthy. For all the bigger wallets you will find accusations. Make sure you understand why they were made and if you are comfortable with the provider's reaction.

If you find something we should include, you can create an issue or edit this analysis yourself and create a merge request for your changes.

The Analysis 

New Review 2021-11-25

It’s worth noting that there is another cryptocurrency hardware wallet provider with the name of “Cerber Wallet”. The domain for the other wallet provider is cerber.net.

Private keys can be created offline

The translated website claims that it is “compatible with Trezor”

Trezor replied and voiced out its opinion that it may be a fork since both their software and hardware are open-source.

Keys do not leave the protected storage, which allows using it even on an infected computer.

After the payment order is generated, it goes into the wallet and you can check the recipient’s address and amount. If they match what you entered on the computer, you confirm the transaction. Signing with an electronic signature takes place directly on the wallet. After that, the signed document enters the computer and is sent to the network.

Translated from:

Представляем Вашему вниманию аппаратный криптокошелек CERBER WALLET. Ключи не покидают защищенное хранилище, что позволяет его использовать даже на зараженном компьютере. После формирования платежного поручения оно попадает в кошелек и можно сверить адрес получателя и сумму. Если они совпадают с тем, что Вы ввели на компьютере, Вы подтверждаете транзакцию. Подписание электронной подписью происходит непосредственно на кошельке. После этого подписанный документ попадает в компьютер и отправляется в сеть. На данный момент реализована поддержка основных валют: Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, Zcash, Litecoin, Dash, Etherium. Ключи на устройстве защищены PIN кодом. В случае поломки или утери устройства ключи можно восстановить на любом кошельке, который поддерживает стандарт BIP39 (генерация ключа из 24 секретных слов которые вы записываете в момент инициализации кошелька).

Private keys are not shared

The first time you use it, you need to initialize the device. First, enter the PIN. The numbers are displayed on the device in the plate in random order, and we enter them on the computer in the appropriate places in the table with hidden numbers. Next, the key is generated and you need to write down 24 words. It is IMPORTANT to keep these words secret, because in case of loss or breakage of the key, only they will help you to restore your key. There is also a risk of theft if an intruder learns these words. This completes the device setup.

Interface

Interestingly, with a bit of searching, we were able to find a few pictures of the device, one of which displays an OLED screen which tells the user to visit trezor.io/start.

Reproducibility

Open source was not mentioned anywhere in cerberwallet.ru.

Without having our hands on the actual device, we suspect that Cerber may have borrowed code from Trezor since it links to Trezor both on the website and on the device.

With that said, the hardware wallet has a very limited footprint online. We were only able to find two websites that mention it and the postings practically copied from the main website.

It is highly likely that this hardware wallet’s code cannot be verified.

Old Review 2021-08-15

The website and information of this wallet is only available in Russian.

(ml, dg)

Verdict Explained

Without public source of the reviewed release available, this product cannot be verified!

As part of our Methodology, we ask:

No Source!

Is the source code publicly available?

If the answer is "no", we mark it as "No source for current release found".

A wallet that claims to not give the provider the means to steal the users’ funds might actually be lying. In the spirit of “Don’t trust - verify!” you don’t want to take the provider at his word, but trust that people hunting for fame and bug bounties could actually find flaws and back-doors in the wallet so the provider doesn’t dare to put these in.

Back-doors and flaws are frequently found in closed source products but some remain hidden for years. And even in open source security software there might be catastrophic flaws undiscovered for years.

An evil wallet provider would certainly prefer not to publish the code, as hiding it makes audits orders of magnitude harder.

For your security, you thus want the code to be available for review.

If the wallet provider doesn’t share up to date code, our analysis stops there as the wallet could steal your funds at any time, and there is no protection except the provider’s word.

“Up to date” strictly means that any instance of the product being updated without the source code being updated counts as closed source. This puts the burden on the provider to always first release the source code before releasing the product’s update. This paragraph is a clarification to our rules following a little poll.

We are not concerned about the license as long as it allows us to perform our analysis. For a security audit, it is not necessary that the provider allows others to use their code for a competing wallet. You should still prefer actual open source licenses as a competing wallet won’t use the code without giving it careful scrutiny.

The product cannot be independently verified. If the provider puts your funds at risk on purpose or by accident, you will probably not know about the issue before people start losing money. If the provider is more criminally inclined he might have collected all the backups of all the wallets, ready to be emptied at the press of a button. The product might have a formidable track record but out of distress or change in management turns out to be evil from some point on, with nobody outside ever knowing before it is too late.