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What is a Trusted Display?

Your Trezor device’s screen only displays verified information. This is called a Trusted Display, and it ensures you can securely manage your digital assets.

Trezor’s Trusted Display always shows the correct information because the device stays offline, even when your computer is connected to the internet.

Your Trezor device securely stores private keys and signs transactions in an isolated environment, making it immune to remote attacks. No one can hack the device or alter what appears on the display.
 

Ensure your Trezor device is authentic. Fake devices do not provide the same security guarantees and are designed to steal your funds. To verify authenticity, use the authenticity check feature in Trezor Suite. Find your Trezor device in the list below to check.

Authenticate Trezor Safe 5
Authenticate Trezor Safe 3
Authenticate Trezor Model T
Authenticate Trezor Model One


 

How Trezor’s Trusted Display protects you from malware


If your computer or smartphone is compromised and displays the wrong receiving address, you can trust that your Trezor’s Trusted Display will show the correct one.
 

Attacks like this are rare but do sometimes happen. That’s why it’s important to always verify addresses on your Trezor device before using them.


Let’s take a look at a hypothetical example.

Alice wants to receive Bitcoin from Bob. She copies her receiving address from Trezor Suite and sends it to Bob. However, her computer is infected with malware that replaces copied addresses with one controlled by an attacker.

 

How the attack works
 

  1. Alice generates a receiving address in Trezor Suite. Alice opens Trezor Suite, selects her Bitcoin account, and clicks “Receive.” A receiving address appears on her screen.
  2. Malware swaps the address when she copies it. When Alice copies and pastes the address, malware silently replaces it with an attacker’s address.

  3. Bob unknowingly sends Bitcoin to the wrong address. The funds are now irreversibly sent to the attacker instead of Alice.
     

 

How Trezor’s Trusted Display prevents this


 

  1. Alice verifies the address on her Trezor device. The correct receiving address appears on her Trezor device’s screen, directly from the hardware wallet.

  2. Alice notices the addresses don’t match. The address on her Trezor device’s screen is different from the one on her computer. This confirms that malware altered the copied address.

  3. Alice saves the funds from being sent to the wrong address. She sees her computer is infected with malware, immediately contacts Trezor Support, and does not send any funds until the issue is resolved.


Key takeaway


Always check the receiving address on your Trezor’s Trusted Display before using it. If the address on your Trezor device doesn’t match the one on your computer, do not send funds to this address —your computer is compromised. Contract Trezor Support via our chatbot Hal immediately.