Process Security, Pillar 02
Your team's laptops, hardware wallets, and personal devices are the physical boundary of your network security. If those endpoints are unencrypted, unmanaged, or running without enforced security policies, an attacker who reaches one of them reaches everything it can access, keys, credentials, repositories, and production systems.
In Web3, the stakes of endpoint compromise are higher than in almost any other industry. A developer's laptop that contains an unencrypted seed phrase, a private key stored in a browser extension, or a CI/CD token in a dotfile is a single point of failure worth millions. Hardware encryption policies are the IT security services that close the gap between the value of your assets and the security of the devices that interact with them.
We design and implement hardware encryption policies tailored to the operational reality of distributed Web3 teams, where contributors work from personal devices across multiple jurisdictions, hardware wallets are used in uncontrolled environments, and the concept of a managed corporate fleet may not exist. We meet teams where they are and define the minimum security baseline that applies to every person who can touch a sensitive system.
Work is delivered through our internal consultancy team and a curated network of specialist partner firms, rigorously vetted for technical depth and professional integrity in the Web3 space.
The Laptop Is the Attack Surface
“In the Radiant Capital breach, attackers compromised developer machines through a malicious PDF delivered via Telegram. The malware silently manipulated transaction data at signing time. The developers saw a legitimate transaction, the hardware wallet signed a malicious one. Without endpoint security controls, the hardware wallet provided no protection at all.”
The Unmanaged Device in the Attack Chain
“The LastPass breach was completed when attackers compromised a LastPass DevOps engineer’s home computer via a vulnerability in a media player application. The engineer had cloud backup credentials cached on an unmanaged personal device. That single laptop, outside any corporate endpoint security policy, unencrypted, running vulnerable third-party software, was the final link in the chain that exposed the encrypted vaults of millions of LastPass customers, leading to $35M+ in cryptocurrency theft. Device security policy only protects the devices it covers.”
Managed IT security services for endpoints are not just a compliance checkbox. For a Web3 team, a compromised or stolen developer workstation is a direct path to key theft, credential exfiltration, and supply chain attacks. Network security software alone does not prevent physical or local access risks, hardware encryption does.
The Policy Areas
Endpoint security in Web3 spans four distinct domains. A complete hardware encryption policy addresses all of them, most teams have ad hoc coverage of one or two at best.
Full disk encryption enforced on every machine used to access team systems. Encryption keys tied to platform TPM or passphrase, not stored in plaintext. Remote wipe capability required for all devices holding privileged credentials or signing tools.
FIDO2 hardware keys (YubiKey or equivalent) required for all privileged account authentication. Software MFA is insufficient where high-value access is at stake, hardware keys eliminate SIM-swapping and credential phishing for authentication. Policy defines which roles require hardware keys and what happens when one is lost.
Approved hardware wallet models, required firmware versions, and signing procedures that prevent blind signing. HSM usage policies for institutional-grade key custody. Procedures for initialisation, backup, and geographic distribution of recovery materials, documented and rehearsed, not improvised.
Minimum security requirements for personal devices, the reality of most distributed Web3 teams. Defines what is and is not permitted on personal hardware, required security configurations, and the process for verifying compliance without requiring full MDM control of personal machines.
