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group chat is still a work-in-progress, but it’ll work in a way where asymmetric and symmetric encryption keys are generated in javascript using cryptography tools provided by the browser of your choice.
when a connection is established over webrtc (which mandates encryption anyway), the asymmetric keys are exchanged using the diffie-helman technique.
the keys are persisted into browser storage (indexedDB) so in a future reconnection, new keys dont need to be rgenerated. if you connect to a “known-peer”, the keys can be used for a kind-of p2p authentication.
all the security here depends on the security of the connected devices involved. this approach is in contast to connecting to an api to authenticate and proxy encrypted messages.
for more info there may be related information/links here: https://positive-intentions.com/blog/security-privacy-authentication
That’s right. It’s using peerjs-server as the connection broker.
Thanks! That’s great to hear.
There’s sometimes a bug where you have to have to exchange that ID both ways.
There a lot of docs to read through so just in case you overlooked it, I hope the video on this page helps: https://positive-intentions.com/docs/basics/peers
If that doesn’t help, then it’s something I need to fix. I am aware of a few issues with connecting to people when not on the same network. Webrtc should still work, so I chalk it up to some bug I should prioritize.
Id be interested to hear about the experience of trying to connect with the file app. I added some changes to make things work better, if that works I may have an idea of how to fix it for the chat app.
the google stuff is only for the website. the apps have their own subdomains and CSP headers that block foreign scripts.
(the direct links are found on the website footer under “links”)
the chat app is flexible in the ways it can be run as further described here: https://positive-intentions.com/blog/docker-ios-android-desktop. im trying things out with tauri and maybe some version hits the f-droid store at some point?
thanks for your reply.
can i do both? the chat app is completely open source. thats the thing i wanted to get traction on, but it doesnt seem to be working. which is understandable with things like bugs and audits missing.
so for a new approach with “file” i’m creating an app that is simplified to being purely for file transfer. i hope this simplication can also lead to more stable functionality to hopefully get to a level where it can send 300gb over webrtc. id like to this approach to remain close source so that i can create something competative in the market for file-transfer.
if youre asking for an audit, i expect you have an idea that they arent cheap. its simply beyond my means. the project is too complicated for pro-bono work.
the chat app (which contains file-transfer capabilities) is open source. id like to develop the p2p capabilities into a SaaS and so its logical to lean towards close-source for the “file” app.
thanks! im playing around with the website to make the landing page experience more appealing. the apps themselves, are running inside an iframe.
the google stuff is only for the website. the apps have their own subdomains and CSP headers that block foreign scripts.
(the direct links are found on the website footer under “links”)
thanks! yeah i agree it could do with more attention on the UX.
Thanks!
I’d like to add data encryption at rest, but thats still a work in progress. A previous post on the matter: https://lemmy.ml/post/22209501 .
I hope to improve the project over time. A roadmap of possible capabilities can be seen here: https://positive-intentions.com/blog/introducing-decentralized-chat#roadmap-the-future-of-secure-file-sharing
I’m motivated to work on the project because its interesting, but it seems this project is not sustainable open source and so I’m investigating options in how to go forward.
(The chat app repository will still remain open source. Making it close-source would undermine it’s security claims.)
the web version is intended to work on all platforms without compilation.
a html file-input is simple to add on a webpage. when selecting a file, its loaded into memory. at that point you can encrypt that file and sent it over webrtc… voila; p2p encrypted file transfer.
my approach to a mobile (ios/android) version is using capacitorjs/tauri… its basically a native wrapper with a webview.
P2p encrypted file sharing is sadly still an unsolved problem
thanks for your input, but can you explain what you mean by “unsolved problem”?.. p2p encrypted file transfer is demonstrated in the app.
its browser based. it uses webrtc to create p2p connections between browsers. concepts like authentication takes the form of using cryptography capabilities of a typical browser. the storage of data from messages to encryption keys are stored in indexedDB as provided by the browser of your choice. there is an emphesis on client-side browser-based capabilities in all parts of the app.
matrix is a good peer reviewed and generally reccommended solution. this project isnt intended to replace any existing solution. there are many other similar projects out there, but i notice there arent many presented as webapps. this is my attempt.
My app is different because the auth is handled between peers. So it could only every be people you shared your ID with. Security is important for me on this project. Its more important than the app being popular. https://www.reddit.com/r/CyberSecurityAdvice/comments/1ev5kqn/is_this_a_secure_messaging_app/
People should not connect to strangers on this app because of the potential risks of IP exposure… But between people you trust or between your own devices, it should work as expected for testing.
As for allowing links with expiration, you basically have that already with what looks like the login/logout functionality. There is no actual registration, it’s just a UI for creating and deleting crypto random ID profiles.
Lemmy and the fediverse is a good idea. The federation makes it so I can see Lemmy posts on mastodon. Etc… id like to draw a parallel in my app with the chat-view and the inteagram-view
I don’t think this kind of app could be an alternative to instagram because of it only being P2P with only people you know.
The app is using webRTC which exposes IP addresses, so you wouldn’t want something like a global feed on this.
Immich sounds interesting. I’d like to make time to check it out.
P2P allows for a fairly unexplored infrastructure for content moderation. In this app, the feed of images would only be from people you connect to. For people to connect to you, you have to share a crypto random id.
As a webapp you can clear the site data by logging out. Basically, people cannot randomly connect to you and share things you don’t like.
I won’t be adding anything like a global feed. Only content that you shared or received.
This doesn’t remove the risk of people sending you things you don’t like so I’m all ears for an approach to that. I didn’t make much progress on the following. If there are any hard features you think would help, let me know. I’d like to make some time to create a “block contact” but it’ll take time and consideration to do it properly (so I don’t expect it soon). Things like logging out and being able to backup your profile might be enough, but not as user-friendly as it could be.
Thanks. I’ve com across it before. You can find the corresponding security audit online.
Ive tried to address those concerns and I try to give details about it here: https://lemmy.ml/post/18497337
Thanks for the tip. WebRTC is using aes-128, I see in my code I’m using RSA. It sounds like a good idea like to create a cascading cypher with aes-256 which seems to be regarded as “military grade” (but it seems there is no official spec definition for this).
since the original post, i tried “military grade” in the wording and while i hope it triggered alerts for attention, i generally recieved feedback like yours where it isnt standardized and basically marketing words.
following the feedback ive now rephrased it some something like “industry grade”.