Build Status

UNSAKINI

Created by and for online activists, information security enthusiasts and government surveillance evaders.

Unsakini is an open source encrypted bulletin board created with the aim of evading global information surveillance and spying, preventing data leaks and promoting information confidentiality and integrity.

Features:

  • encrypted discussions boards
  • encrypted chat
  • encrypted file uploads

How it Works

Upon using the system, you'll be asked to provide your private key. This key is used to encrypt your data before they are sent to the server. The key is stored in your computer and is never sent to the server.

Hackers, surveillance and spy softwares and even the server host cannot read your data, unless they are able to obtain your private key. Your private key is deleted from your computer everytime you logout to ensure no one can obtain it while you're away.

To increase the security, your data is re-encrypted in the backend before being saved to the database, which adds a second layer of protection.

So to access your data, the hacker needs to know two things - (1) your private key and (2) the server encryption key. That is, if they are able to bypass the server security and gets access to the database. Even so, they won't be able to read the data without these two elements.

The data is ecnrypted using Advanced Encryption System (AES), the most widely used and trusted encryption algorithm.

System Requirements

  • Ruby >= 2.2.2
  • Rails >= 5.0
  • Bunlder gem

Installation

Create a new rails application named my-app or anything you like.

$ rails new my-app
$ cd my-app

Add the gem to your Gemfile.

gem 'unsakini'

Bundle install and initialize the application

$ bundle install
$ rake unsakini:install

The rake unsakini:install command is just a super set of the following commands:

$ rails generate unsakini:config              # generates config/initializers/unsakini.rb
$ rails generate unsakini:dependencies        # add dependencies to Gemfile
$ rake unsakini_engine:install:migrations     # copy the engine migrations to db/migrations directory
$ rake db:migrate                             # runs the migration files

These dependencies will be added to your Gemfile

gem "active_model_serializers"
gem "rack-cors"
gem "kaminari"
gem "api-pagination"
# As of Nov 28, 2016: waiting for my PR to be merged
# https://github.com/nsarno/knock/pull/126
gem 'knock', git: 'https://github.com/adonespitogo/knock'

Install the newly added dependencies

Note: You might want to review your Gemfile first

$ bundle install

Run local rails server

$ rails s

Now you will be able to see the application at http://localhost:3000

Encryption Specifications

  • server
    • Algorithm = AES
    • Mode = CBC
    • Key Size = 256
    • *Others = autogenerated, random
  • client
    • Algorithm = AES
    • Mode = CBC
    • Padding = Pkcs7
    • Key Derivation Function = PBKDF2
    • Key Size = 256
    • Initialization Vector Size = 128
    • PBKDF2 iterations = 500

Security

If you find any security flaws, please don't write a github issue. Email me instead at [email protected] so we can fix it before the public knows.

Author

Adones Pitogo

License

Released under the terms of MIT License.