Scalable & Paranoid: Secure Share

• Carlo v. Loesch (symlynX)
• Gabor Toth (PSYC)
• Mathias Baumann (PSYC)

A Perfectionist's Social Network

Overview of the Talk

• Safety of Virtual Machines
• How Much Privacy Is Enough?
• Social Onion Routing
• More Desired Features
• Architecture, Protocols
• How to Beat Faceboogle
• The 'Secure Share' App

Don't Trust Virtual Machines

Commodity Servers are VMs

• vulnerable cryptography
• memory can be monitored
• controlling system accessible by observers
• automated monitoring of federated social networks
• anti-terror legislation possible
• even if your server is at home

Privacy vs. Paranoia

How Much Privacy Is Enough? 1/2

• just to the intended recipients (e2e encryption)
• packet size padding (unobservability)
• flexible number of anonymization hops
• optional intentional delay

Privacy vs. Paranoia

How Much Privacy Is Enough? 2/2

• forward secrecy
• deniability (a log is no proof of nothing)
• private subscription lists (not on a server)
• robust and resilient against attacks

It's A Question Of Trust

Social Onion Routing

• trust relationship between nodes
• multihop provides anonymization
• motivation to provide "servers" as fast routers
• "P2P" a lot faster over servers
• irony: role switch between servers and routers

Portability & Acceptance

Lightweight Daemon

• personal devices and home routers
• lightweight for embedded and mobile
• lightweight for background daemon use
• compiled language
• more likely to get included in OS distros

Architecture

Technology

• looking for the best framework...
• GnuNet, Maidsafe, A3 or Tonika?
• socially enhanced DHT?
• payload syntax: efficient, binary capable, extensible
• Multicast distribution for scalability (later)

Flexibility

Framework Architecture

• a truly private messaging backend
• social applications to be built on top
• emulations of the 'open standards' possible
• OStatus, WebID, RDF, even the Twitter API
• optional modules for XMPP, IRC?
• Activity Streams

Dissemination

Hard to beat Faceboogle

• since we need to go onto every computer anyway..
• offer something Faceboogle can't provide?
• exchanging files between friends sucks
• USB sticks, e-mail, file hosters, skype, MSN
• WTF is 'Secure Share' ?

Desktop Integration

'Secure Share' Function

• right mouse button click (context menu)
• share a file to a channel of subscribers
• appears in their file system soon
• realtime or delayed notification
• no permission dialogs
• shipped by default in your free OS?

If you like what we do

We need support

• Manpower
• Alliances
• Finances
• Publicity

Cross That Bridge As We Get There?

Let's just get started with something!

• The Mediocre is the Enemy of the Good
• Historic Examples:
• HTTP.. HTTP/NG?, SPDY!?
• SMTP.. What? Faceboogle!?
• XML.. What? JSON!?