Trezor® Hardware Wallet — Secure Access to Your Website

This page explains how to offer secure, hardware-backed access to your website using the Trezor® hardware wallet. It includes practical steps, implementation notes, and an explicit disclaimer to help protect users and administrators. Do not use this page as legal advice; treat it as technical guidance only.

Why use a hardware wallet for website access?

Hardware wallets such as the Trezor® keep private keys offline and require physical confirmation for cryptographic operations. For websites that need high-assurance authentication (admin panels, critical infrastructure, or privileged operations), integrating WebAuthn / U2F with Trezor® adds a strong factor: possession of a device and optional PIN confirmation.

High-level approach

Use industry-standard Web Authentication (WebAuthn) and FIDO2 flows to register and authenticate Trezor® devices as credentials.
Offer a one-time setup flow for administrators to register their Trezor® as a login key.
Keep account recovery paths strictly controlled (do not rely only on hardware devices — provide an emergency admin process).

Implementation checklist (developer-friendly)

Server: Support WebAuthn server libraries (Node, Python, Go, Java). Implement registration and assertion endpoints according to the WebAuthn spec.
Client: Use browser APIs (navigator.credentials.create / navigator.credentials.get) to prompt users to register and use their Trezor® devices.
Policy: Enforce user verification or resident keys depending on your security requirements and user base.
Testing: Test with multiple browsers and OS combinations; Trezor® support varies by firmware and browser—verify UX thoroughly.

Step-by-step: Registering a Trezor® for website access

Below is an outline of the typical WebAuthn registration flow. Your server-side library will provide most of the heavy lifting; these steps explain what happens end-to-end:

1. User requests to register a security device from account settings.
2. Server generates a registration challenge and returns the challenge (and policy options) to the client.
3. The browser calls navigator.credentials.create(); the user selects the Trezor® and confirms on the device.
4. The browser returns an attestation object containing the public key; the server verifies the attestation, stores the credential public key, and associates it with the user account.
5. From now on, the user can authenticate using navigator.credentials.get() to produce assertions signed by the Trezor® device.

Security best practices

Never accept attestation or authentication data until properly validated by your WebAuthn server. Maintain strict origin-checking, enforce TLS, and avoid fallback to weak authentication methods for privileged actions.

Enforce HTTPS with HSTS and modern TLS cipher suites.
Register multiple devices for critical accounts to avoid single-device lockout.
Educate users: keep recovery seeds physically secure and never transmit seed words over the web.
Log and monitor authentication events; alert on unusual device registrations or geolocation changes.

Disclaimer

This guidance is technical information only and does not constitute legal, financial, or security advice. Trezor® is a registered trademark of SatoshiLabs; this page is an independent technical guide and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the device manufacturer. Implementing hardware-backed authentication involves risks. The website owner is responsible for correct implementation, secure server configuration, and user education. The author of this page accepts no responsibility for data loss, misconfiguration, or security breaches arising from following these instructions.

Users must keep their recovery seed private and offline. If a user loses their Trezor® device and does not have access to recovery information stored securely, account recovery may be impossible. For critical accounts, provision a documented emergency admin process that includes identity verification before access is restored.

UX and accessibility notes

Make the registration flow clear: show step-by-step prompts, explain that the user will need to connect their Trezor® and confirm actions on the device. Provide fallbacks for users who cannot use hardware keys (e.g., mobile authenticator apps) but limit fallback privileges for sensitive operations.

Troubleshooting

If a user cannot register a Trezor® device, check these common issues:

Browser does not support WebAuthn or has flags disabled — ensure up-to-date browsers.
USB or WebUSB permission issues — advise the user to allow the browser to access the device.
Outdated Trezor® firmware — encourage firmware updates via official tools before registration.