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sec-design.md

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BUSINESS POSTURE

  • Business Priorities and Goals:
    • Provide a secure and private platform for data storage and social networking.
    • Offer users control over their data and privacy in contrast to centralized platforms.
    • Enable decentralized and resilient data storage and sharing.
    • Foster a community around privacy-focused and decentralized technologies.
  • Business Risks:
    • Data breaches or security vulnerabilities leading to loss of user trust and data.
    • Privacy violations or misuse of user data, despite privacy-focused design.
    • Platform instability or performance issues due to the decentralized nature.
    • Difficulty in achieving widespread user adoption compared to established centralized platforms.
    • Regulatory compliance challenges related to data privacy and decentralization.
    • Risk of malicious actors exploiting the decentralized network for illegal activities.

SECURITY POSTURE

  • Existing Security Controls:
    • security control End-to-end encryption: Described in project documentation and code, implemented client-side before data is stored or transmitted.
    • security control Decentralized architecture: Inherent to the design, reduces single point of failure and control.
    • security control Access control mechanisms: Implemented within the platform to manage data sharing and permissions, details in code and documentation.
  • Accepted Risks:
    • accepted risk Potential vulnerabilities in the codebase due to ongoing development and complexity.
    • accepted risk Reliance on community contributions for security audits and vulnerability discovery.
    • accepted risk Risks associated with decentralized networks, such as Sybil attacks or network partitioning.
  • Recommended Security Controls:
    • security control Implement regular security audits and penetration testing by external security experts.
    • security control Integrate automated vulnerability scanning tools into the development pipeline.
    • security control Establish a formal incident response plan to handle security incidents effectively.
    • security control Implement robust logging and monitoring for security-relevant events.
    • security control Conduct security training for developers to promote secure coding practices.
  • Security Requirements:
    • Authentication:
      • Requirement: Secure user authentication mechanism to verify user identity and control access to their data and platform features.
      • Details: Should support strong password policies and consider multi-factor authentication options.
    • Authorization:
      • Requirement: Fine-grained authorization controls to manage access to data and functionalities based on user roles and permissions.
      • Details: Implement access control lists (ACLs) or similar mechanisms to define who can access and modify specific data.
    • Input Validation:
      • Requirement: Comprehensive input validation on all user inputs to prevent injection attacks (e.g., XSS, SQL injection, command injection).
      • Details: Validate data on both client-side and server-side, using appropriate encoding and sanitization techniques.
    • Cryptography:
      • Requirement: Strong cryptographic algorithms and protocols for data encryption, secure communication, and key management.
      • Details: Utilize established and well-vetted cryptographic libraries. Ensure proper key generation, storage, and rotation practices.

DESIGN

C4 CONTEXT

flowchart LR
    subgraph "Peergos System"
        P["Peergos"]
    end
    U["Users"]
    INET["Internet"]
    DNS["DNS System"]
    U --> P
    P --> INET
    INET --> DNS
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  • Context Diagram Elements:
      • Name: Users
      • Type: Person
      • Description: Individuals or organizations who use Peergos to store data, share files, and interact socially.
      • Responsibilities: Interact with the Peergos system through web interface or command-line tools, manage their data and privacy settings.
      • Security controls: User-managed passwords, potentially multi-factor authentication in the future, client-side encryption.
      • Name: Peergos
      • Type: Software System
      • Description: A decentralized, peer-to-peer hypermedia storage and social network platform.
      • Responsibilities: Provide secure and private data storage, facilitate data sharing and social interactions, manage user accounts and permissions, maintain the decentralized network.
      • Security controls: End-to-end encryption, access control mechanisms, decentralized architecture, input validation, secure communication protocols.
      • Name: Internet
      • Type: Boundary
      • Description: The public internet network that connects users and Peergos nodes.
      • Responsibilities: Provide communication infrastructure for users to access Peergos and for Peergos nodes to communicate with each other.
      • Security controls: TLS/HTTPS for web UI access, network security protocols for P2P communication (details depend on implementation).
      • Name: DNS System
      • Type: External System
      • Description: Domain Name System used to resolve Peergos domain names to IP addresses.
      • Responsibilities: Translate domain names into IP addresses, enabling users to access Peergos web interface and nodes to discover each other.
      • Security controls: DNSSEC to ensure DNS record integrity (if implemented by domain registrar).

C4 CONTAINER

flowchart LR
    subgraph "Peergos System"
        subgraph "Web Browser"
            WEBUI["Web UI"]
        end
        subgraph "Peergos Node"
            API["Backend API"]
            STORAGE["Decentralized Storage"]
        end
        WEBUI --> API
        API --> STORAGE
    end
    U["Users"]
    INET["Internet"]
    U --> WEBUI
    API -- "P2P Protocol" --> INET
    STORAGE -- "P2P Protocol" --> INET
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  • Container Diagram Elements:
      • Name: Web UI
      • Type: Web Application
      • Description: Client-side web application built with technologies like React or similar, providing user interface to interact with Peergos.
      • Responsibilities: User interaction, data presentation, client-side input validation, communication with Backend API.
      • Security controls: Client-side input validation, secure coding practices, protection against XSS and CSRF, HTTPS for communication.
      • Name: Backend API
      • Type: Application
      • Description: Server-side application, likely written in Go (based on repository), handling business logic, API endpoints, and interaction with decentralized storage.
      • Responsibilities: User authentication and authorization, API request processing, data management, interaction with decentralized storage, enforcing security policies.
      • Security controls: Server-side input validation, secure API design, authorization checks, rate limiting, secure communication with storage, logging and monitoring.
      • Name: Decentralized Storage
      • Type: Data Store
      • Description: Peer-to-peer storage network where user data is stored in a distributed and encrypted manner across multiple nodes.
      • Responsibilities: Securely store and retrieve data, manage data replication and redundancy, enforce access control policies, participate in the P2P network.
      • Security controls: End-to-end encryption, data integrity checks, access control mechanisms, secure P2P communication protocols, resistance to data loss and censorship.

DEPLOYMENT

flowchart LR
    subgraph "User Device"
        PEERGOS_NODE["Peergos Node Instance"]
    end
    subgraph "Internet"
        P2P_NETWORK["Peergos P2P Network"]
    end
    USER_BROWSER["User Web Browser"]
    USER_BROWSER --> PEERGOS_NODE
    PEERGOS_NODE -- "P2P Protocol" --> P2P_NETWORK
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  • Deployment Diagram Elements:
      • Name: User Device
      • Type: Infrastructure
      • Description: User's personal computer, laptop, or server where a Peergos node instance is running.
      • Responsibilities: Host and run a Peergos node, contribute to the decentralized storage network, provide resources (storage, bandwidth, compute).
      • Security controls: Operating system security, firewall, user-managed security configurations, physical security of the device.
      • Name: Peergos Node Instance
      • Type: Software Instance
      • Description: A running instance of the Peergos node software on a user's device.
      • Responsibilities: Execute Peergos node software, manage local data storage, communicate with other nodes in the P2P network, serve user requests.
      • Security controls: Software security controls of Peergos node application, secure configuration, process isolation.
      • Name: Internet
      • Type: Network
      • Description: The public internet connecting user devices and Peergos nodes.
      • Responsibilities: Provide network connectivity for communication between user browsers and Peergos nodes, and between Peergos nodes in the P2P network.
      • Security controls: Network security protocols (TCP/IP), potential use of VPNs or other network security measures by users.
      • Name: Peergos P2P Network
      • Type: Environment
      • Description: The decentralized network formed by all running Peergos nodes.
      • Responsibilities: Collectively store and manage data, maintain network connectivity and resilience, facilitate data sharing and social interactions.
      • Security controls: P2P protocol security, network-level security mechanisms (depending on protocol), distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) mitigation strategies.

BUILD

flowchart LR
    DEVELOPER["Developer"] --> CODE_REPO["Code Repository (GitHub)"]
    CODE_REPO --> CI_PIPELINE["CI Pipeline (GitHub Actions)"]
    CI_PIPELINE --> BUILD_ARTIFACTS["Build Artifacts (Binaries, Containers)"]
    CI_PIPELINE --> SECURITY_CHECKS["Security Checks (SAST, Linters)"]
    SECURITY_CHECKS --> CI_PIPELINE
    BUILD_ARTIFACTS --> RELEASE_REPO["Release Repository (GitHub Releases, Container Registry)"]
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  • Build Process Elements:
      • Name: Developer
      • Type: Person
      • Description: Software developers who write and maintain the Peergos codebase.
      • Responsibilities: Write code, commit changes to the code repository, participate in code reviews, fix bugs and security vulnerabilities.
      • Security controls: Secure development practices, code review process, access control to code repository, developer training.
      • Name: Code Repository (GitHub)
      • Type: System
      • Description: Git repository hosted on GitHub, used for version control and collaboration on the Peergos codebase.
      • Responsibilities: Store source code, track changes, manage branches and releases, facilitate collaboration among developers.
      • Security controls: Access control to repository, branch protection rules, audit logs, vulnerability scanning of dependencies (GitHub Dependabot).
      • Name: CI Pipeline (GitHub Actions)
      • Type: Automation System
      • Description: Continuous Integration pipeline implemented using GitHub Actions, automating the build, test, and security check processes.
      • Responsibilities: Automate build process, run unit and integration tests, perform security checks (SAST, linters), generate build artifacts.
      • Security controls: Secure CI/CD configuration, access control to CI/CD workflows, secrets management, security scanning tools integration, build process isolation.
      • Name: Security Checks (SAST, Linters)
      • Type: Security Tool
      • Description: Static Application Security Testing (SAST) tools and code linters integrated into the CI pipeline to automatically detect potential security vulnerabilities and code quality issues.
      • Responsibilities: Analyze source code for security flaws and coding style violations, provide feedback to developers, prevent vulnerable code from being deployed.
      • Security controls: Configuration of SAST tools and linters, regular updates to tool definitions, integration with CI pipeline for automated execution.
      • Name: Build Artifacts (Binaries, Containers)
      • Type: Software Artifact
      • Description: Compiled binaries and container images produced by the CI pipeline, ready for distribution and deployment.
      • Responsibilities: Package the application for distribution, provide runnable artifacts for users and deployment environments.
      • Security controls: Signing of build artifacts, integrity checks, provenance tracking, vulnerability scanning of container images.
      • Name: Release Repository (GitHub Releases, Container Registry)
      • Type: Artifact Repository
      • Description: Repository for storing and distributing released build artifacts, such as GitHub Releases for binaries and container registry for container images.
      • Responsibilities: Store and distribute build artifacts, manage releases, provide access to users for downloading and deploying Peergos.
      • Security controls: Access control to release repository, integrity checks of artifacts, secure distribution channels (HTTPS), version control of releases.

RISK ASSESSMENT

  • Critical Business Processes:
    • User data storage and retrieval: Ensuring data availability, integrity, and confidentiality is paramount.
    • User authentication and authorization: Securely verifying user identities and controlling access to data and features.
    • Data sharing and social interactions: Maintaining privacy and security during data sharing and communication between users.
    • Platform availability and resilience: Ensuring the platform remains operational and accessible to users.
  • Data Sensitivity:
    • User data stored in Peergos is highly sensitive. It includes personal files, private communications, and potentially other personal information.
    • Data sensitivity level is high, requiring strong confidentiality, integrity, and availability protections. Unauthorized access, modification, or loss of this data could have significant negative consequences for users.

QUESTIONS & ASSUMPTIONS

  • BUSINESS POSTURE:
    • Question: What is the target user base for Peergos? Is it primarily individuals, organizations, or specific sectors?
    • Assumption: Target user base includes privacy-conscious individuals and organizations seeking decentralized and secure data storage and social networking solutions.
    • Question: What is the monetization strategy for Peergos?
    • Assumption: Monetization strategy is still under development or relies on community support and potentially premium features or services in the future.
    • Question: What are the specific regulatory compliance requirements for Peergos, especially regarding data privacy (e.g., GDPR, CCPA)?
    • Assumption: Peergos aims to be compliant with relevant data privacy regulations by design, but specific compliance measures need to be further defined and implemented.
  • SECURITY POSTURE:
    • Question: Have formal security audits been conducted on Peergos codebase and infrastructure?
    • Assumption: Formal security audits are planned or will be conducted in the future, but may not have been performed extensively yet due to the project stage.
    • Question: Is there a documented incident response plan in place for security incidents?
    • Assumption: An incident response plan is under development or needs to be formalized to ensure effective handling of security incidents.
    • Question: What specific cryptography libraries and algorithms are used for encryption and secure communication?
    • Assumption: Well-established and reputable cryptography libraries are used, but specific details need to be documented and reviewed for best practices.
  • DESIGN:
    • Question: What specific database technology is used for metadata and user account management?
    • Assumption: A lightweight or embedded database solution is used for node-local metadata storage, but details need to be confirmed.
    • Question: What are the details of the P2P networking protocol used for node communication and data transfer?
    • Assumption: A secure and efficient P2P protocol is used, but specific protocol details and security mechanisms need to be documented.
    • Question: What are the scalability and performance considerations for the decentralized storage network and the overall platform?
    • Assumption: Scalability and performance are important design considerations, and ongoing development focuses on optimizing these aspects of the platform.