|
| 1 | +# KPChat |
| 2 | + |
| 3 | +## Overview: |
| 4 | +1. |
| 5 | + |
| 6 | +2. Security: |
| 7 | + * End-to-End Encryption (E2EE): All messages exchanged between users should be encrypted on the sender's device and decrypted only on the recipient's device. |
| 8 | + * Local storage Encryption: User data, including credentials and chat history, should be stored locally in an encrypted format. |
| 9 | + * Explore tools like libsodium or OpenSSL for encryption along with encrypted file systems. |
| 10 | + * Authentication: Add a secure way to handle user Authentication. Password based authentication, hash and salt passwords |
| 11 | + * Libs like bcrypt. |
| 12 | + * Decentralization: Instead of a central server to manage user info and messages, a P2P, or federated architecture where each client acts as both a server and a client. |
| 13 | + |
| 14 | +3. Network Architecture |
| 15 | + * Peer-to-Peer (P2P): |
| 16 | + * Each instance of the app directly connects to other instances (peers). This allows decentraization and removes the need for a central server. |
| 17 | + * Challenges: How will peers discover each other? How do you handle peer-to-peer connectivity in different networks (NAT traversal, )?, potentially add protocols like WebRTC, DHT(Distributed Hash Table), or libp2p for managing peer discoverying and communication. |
| 18 | + * Encryption between peers is essential to secure data transmission. |
| 19 | + * Federated Architecture: |
| 20 | + * instead of a single central sever, you could have multiple nodes that can communicate with each other. Each node would be responsible for manaing its users' data, acting as both server and client. |
| 21 | + * Challenges: Keeping messages synchronized between nodes while keeping data secure and avoiding centralized data collection is tricky. |
| 22 | + |
| 23 | +4. Authentication & Account Management |
| 24 | + * Account Creation: Since there's no central database, each local instance would need to manage its user accounts. When a user creates an account, the app could generate a public-private keypair. The public key is shared with other users, while the private key remains secure on the user's device. This keypair can be used for: |
| 25 | + * Encryption: Encrypting/decrypting messages. |
| 26 | + * Authentication: Verifying the user identity without relying on a central authority. |
| 27 | + * Passsword Management: Storing passwords securely is important. bcrypte for ahasing and salting pswords can be useful. |
| 28 | + |
| 29 | +5. Decentralization Model |
| 30 | + * Peer-to-Peer (P2P): Users directly connect to one another. Each client maintains a list of their peers and messages are exchanged directly. |
| 31 | + * Local First: Each user stores their own data locally. You could use gossip protocols to synchronize information between peers. This is how many modern distributed systems (like blockchains) work. |
| 32 | + * Hybrid Model: Some components, like peer discovery, can be centralized (e.g., a DHT or STUN servers), while actual messaging remains P2P. |
| 33 | +6. Message Exchange and Encryption |
| 34 | + |
| 35 | + * End-to-End Encryption: Public-private key cryptography (using something like RSA or ECDSA) will allow you to encrypt messages sent between users. When a message is sent, the sender encrypts it using the recipient's public key, ensuring that only the recipient can decrypt it with their private key. |
| 36 | + * Symmetric Key Encryption: For efficiency, after establishing a connection between peers, symmetric key algorithms like AES can be used for the ongoing communication, as it's faster than public-key encryption. |
| 37 | + |
| 38 | +7. Offline Message storage |
| 39 | +Since each user stores their data locally, you might face challenges with offline messaging. Some possibilities: |
| 40 | + * Message Queueing: If a peer is offline, you could store messages locally, and once the peer comes online, these messages are sent. This would require reliable peer discovery. |
| 41 | + * Encrypted Local Storage: To ensure security, even if someone accesses the local system, all messages should be stored encrypted on the local file system. |
| 42 | + |
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