"Not your hardware, not your keys. Not your hardware, not your identity."
VensaSIM is a radical blueprint for a Sovereign SIM Card (ecSIM) standard. Built on the principles of cryptographic agility and radical transparency, it aims to dismantle the "black box" of modern telecommunications by allowing users to verify, choose, and even define the cryptographic primitives used for their mobile authentication.
Inspired by Vitalik Buterin's Vensa initiative and the Cypherpunk ethos, ecSIM addresses the critical vulnerability of modern digital identity: the opaque hardware sitting in our phones.
- Proprietary Opacity: Current SIM/eSIM hardware and firmware are trade secrets. You cannot audit the silicon layout or the Java Card OS running your most sensitive keys.
- Standardized Betrayal: Opaque parameter generation in NIST curves and structural anomalies in Koblitz curves (like the 166-bit
xcoordinate property insecp256k1) suggest potential backdoors or "cooked" parameters. - Centralized Chokepoints: The eSIM remote provisioning architecture (GSMA PKI) creates a global kill-switch, where network access is a permission, not a right.
Users are no longer forced to use a single, hardcoded algorithm. The ecSIM allows you to:
- Select Vetted Curves: Use high-assurance curves like
Curve25519. - Define Custom Curves: Load your own parabolic/elliptic parameters (subject to on-device SafeCurves validation).
- Reject Opaque Standards: Opt-out of NIST-P256 or other "suspicious" primitives.
- Open-Source Stack: From the RISC-V/FPGA hardware design to the
VensaAppletfirmware. - Verifiable Authentication: A clean-slate challenge-response protocol that avoids legacy baggage and known vulnerabilities like Milenage/COMP128 flaws.
3. Protection Against Hidden Backdoors
The ecSIM protocol includes logic to detect and reject curves with structural weaknesses, such as:
- Backdoor-166 Check: Validates that the curve doesn't exhibit the "point divisor by two" coordinate leakage.
- RFC 6979 Compliance: Ensures deterministic nonce generation for ECDSA to prevent private key leakage via
k-reuse.
sequenceDiagram
participant SIM as ecSIM (Sovereign Hardware)
participant Modem as Modem Emulator
participant MNO as Network Emulator (MNO)
SIM->>MNO: Advertise Supported Curves (e.g., VensaSafe-256)
MNO->>SIM: Authentication Challenge (RAND)
SIM->>SIM: Sign RAND using User-Selected Curve
SIM->>MNO: Signed Response (SRES/Signature)
MNO->>MNO: Verify Signature using Registered Public Key
MNO-->>SIM: Authentication Success
This repository contains a full Python-based emulation of the VensaSIM ecosystem:
crypto_math.py: Elliptic curve engine supporting custom parameters and "SafeCurves" validation.vensasim_emulator.py: Emulates the secure element logic, key management, and signing.network_emulator.py: Simulates the Mobile Network Operator's authentication server.modem_emulator.py: The interface bridge.
- Python 3.10+
hashlib,collections(Standard Libraries)
The demo showcases a full lifecycle: Key generation on a custom curve, registration with a network, and a secure authentication handshake.
https://github.com/cozsta/ecsim/raw/main/demo.mp4
python3 demo_en/main.py- Hardware PoC: Implementation on Lattice iCE40 / RISC-V FPGA.
- VensaApplet: A Rust/Zig-based open-source applet for sovereign identity.
- NFC Interface: Bringing ecSIM to physical proximity for secure login.
- Decentralized Provisioning: Replacing GSMA PKI with on-chain identity verification.
In the 21st century, the internet is real life. If our primary key to that life is a proprietary black box, we are not free. ecSIM is the first step toward reclaiming our digital borders.
Built for ETHChiangMai 2026. 🇹🇭
Disclaimer: This is a research prototype and cryptographic proof-of-concept. Use for educational purposes only.