The Stream Exchange Protocol: A Secure and Lightweight Tool for Decentralized Connection Establishment.

Area of Science:

• Computer Science
• Network Security
• Distributed Systems

Background:

• Increasing internet-capable devices complicate network and connection management.
• Existing connectivity approaches (centralized, P2P, VPNs) address specific challenges but lack unified solutions for secure peer discovery and connection.
• A unified framework for usable, scalable, and secure connection establishment remains a challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present the Stream Exchange Protocol (SEP) collection, a set of building blocks for secure, lightweight, and decentralized connection establishment.
• To enable identification and authentication of communication partners using unique identities.
• To facilitate reliable sharing of authentic data, like network locations and endpoints, via federated directories.

Main Methods:

• Development of the Stream Exchange Protocol (SEP) collection, featuring unique identities for peer identification and authentication.
• Utilization of federated directories as decentralized databases for sharing authentic peer data.
• Creation of three demonstration tools: a decentralized file sharing app, a P2P network tunnel, and a decentralized data distribution application.

Main Results:

• The SEP collection provides universally applicable, easy-to-use building blocks for secure decentralized connection establishment.
• Federated directories enable reliable sharing of authentic peer data, enhancing discovery and trust.
• Demonstration tools showcase the versatility of SEP for file sharing, network tunneling, and asynchronous data distribution.

Conclusions:

• The Stream Exchange Protocol (SEP) collection offers a robust solution for secure, lightweight, and decentralized connection establishment.
• SEP's design, incorporating unique identities and federated directories, addresses key challenges in peer discovery, authentication, and data sharing.
• The demonstrated applications highlight SEP's potential for enhancing security, usability, and scalability in diverse network environments.