Andreas Antonopoulos Announces New Bitcoin Security Firm

One of the biggest complaints by people in and out of the bitcoin industry, is how insecure exchanges and third party holders of bitcoins can be. Bitcoin’s young life has been riddled with numerous large thefts of the digital currency – the most notorious one being Mt.Gox.

More recently, a large Chinese bitcoin and altcoin exchange, Bter, was hacked – losing 7,170 bitcoins (Currently worth more than $1.7 million US). The exchange was unable to cover their losses and had to take out a 1,000 BTC loan, from security firm Jua.com.

In January the wallet of a large exchange based in Slovenia was hacked, BitStamp lost over $5 million US worth of bitcoin. The exchange has since paid back costumers, and resumed operations, but it was a very costly reminder of the need for security when dealing with crypto-currency.

“After working with numerous clients in the bitcoin industry the need for Third Key Solutions became apparent. Companies want to build operationally robust and secure businesses but let’s be honest, building a business in the bitcoin space is hard enough. Governance and key recovery are not a top priority for anyone – until something goes wrong,”
— – Pamela Morgan, Third Key Solutions CEO

Launching in the summer of 2015, Third Key Solutions offers to take care of security, as well as to train companies to do it themselves. Alongside key creation and management the company also offers the creation of security plans and procedures, and crisis management – in case one of the client’s keys is compromised.

“At Third Key Solutions [security is] our only priority and we’re here to make it easy. We can generate and store keys with a carefully designed and audited process that gives you and your investors peace of mind, without taking custody of funds.”
— – Morgan

Aside from the company’s role as a third party advisor, in the case of a multi-signature wallet Third Key does also offer to hold one of the three keys – in order to have a back up in the case something goes wrong at the company. The company also stresses that it will never have enough keys to be able to access the funds by themselves, and would need at least one of the two keys kept with the clients or other trust parties.

Third Key Solutions will also partner with several key storage companies through the yet-to-be launched industry group, Key Recovery Network. The association currently consists of Third Key Solutions, stealth security startup, Keepr and Armory Wallets. The Key Recovery Network will work to develop standards for security solutions that try to spread the risk among many different jurisdictions, companies and methods.

The security firm uses new emerging security standards in the bitcoin industry, like hierarchical deterministic wallets (BIP32/BIP43/BIP44), mnemonic phrases (BIP39) and m-of-n multi-signature (BIP11/BIP16). Third Key Solutions claims to be nimble enough to accommodate most hardware or software technologies their clients might be using.

“Bitcoin’s multi-signature feature is an incredibly powerful technology for digital currency security. However, technology is not enough. Security depends on technology, process, and people. Third Key Solutions offers consulting and key management services that provide the process and people to complement the technology”
— – Andreas Antonopoulos, Third Key Solutions CTO

The service is offered in three stages, each important to the security process. The cost of each stage ranges from $500 to $5,000 but the firm is also open to custom pricing for unique jobs. The security firm has also partnered with several bitcoin companies to provide technical support and cutting edge bitcoin security products. Information security solution provider, Gem, bitcoin software provider, CryptoCorp, and enterprise wallet provider, Armory, will support and help Third Key Solution serve their clients.