OpalDrive:ModernizingDigitalFile

TransfersfortheDecentralizedFrontier

WhitJack
LosAngeles,CA
LeadDeveloperOpalOpacitySecuritySuite
whit.jack@opalcoin.com

21November2014

Introduction
File storageand transferhasrepeatedlyshownitsvulnerabilitiesin bothsecurity andprivacyandthis
problemisamplified whenstoringonesfilesandinformation inthe cloud. Inanefforttofindafinal
solution to this problem, decentralized cloud storage was created. Highly skilled individuals and
organizationsareresearching differentsolutionstoharnessthisnewtechnology. Opalisdevelopingan
experimental systemthat willallowindividualstheability to: upload,transfer, anddecryptfilesusing
theOpalCorewalletthroughtheStorjMetaDisk1api.

Trends
Currentfilestoragesystemsleave userswithaninadequate systemprotections. Consumersmusttrust
majorsiteslikeBox,GoogleDrive,andDropboxtoresistappropriatinguserinformationfortheirown
uses or forfeiting that information to third parties for profiy or even divulging said information to
governmententities. In lightof recentrevelationsofsecuritybreaches,governmentleaks,andoutright
corporatetheftbusinessandindividualtrustincentralizedcloudsecurityhasreachedanalltimelow.2

Problem
The issue is alackofareliabledistributionsolutiontostoreandtransmitfilesinatrustlesssystem. No
system currently existsthat is effectiveinreaching mass adoptionand protectusersatthesametime.
Companies have now moved towards the installation of local systems to store data which are both
expensiveandtimeconsumingtomaintain,becausetheysimplycannolongertrustincentralizedcloud
storagetofulfillandsupporttheirneeds.

1
2

http://metadisk.org/metadisk.pdf
http://www.ca.com/kr/~/media/Files/IndustryAnalystReports/2012securityofcloudcomputerusersfinal1.pdf

Solution
a) Overview

Opalssolution is tobuilda transmissionlayerontopofStorjsexistingMetaDiskinfrastructure. This

systemwillallow ausertoencryptafileusingtheencryptionsystemusedwithOpacitytoallow auser
toencryptafilewithanotherusersprivatekey,whileonlypossessingtheirpublickey. Thisresembles
PGPs public key encryption, except Opacitys file transfers allow for encryption with the EDCSA.
Oncethefileisencryptedwiththereceiver'sprivatekey,thefileisuploadedtoStorj(adistributedfile
sharingnetwork thatserves asouroffchainsecuremethodof file storage). Thelink todownloadthe
fileisthensenttothereceiver viaOpacityEM, atwhichpointtheusercanthendownloadanddecrypt
thefilewiththeirprivatekey.

b) Encryption

To achieve encryption usingpublicand privatekeys,the sendertakes theOpacity publickey K from

the preexisting database of public keys OpacityEM stores. After that, 16 random bytes (IV) are
generated. Next,generateanewrandomECkeypairwithprivatekeycalledrandpublickeycalledR.
Thenyou generateasharedsecret(P)usingKeysKandr,whichyouusetogeneratehashH. Thefirst
32 bytes of H are key_e and the last 32 are key_m. Lastly, Encrypt the payload data with
AES256CBC,usingIVasinitializationvector,key_easencryptionkey.Conclusion
Opacity File Transfers, once uploaded are: instant,decentralized,andeffortless. Utilisingthe
Storj network, the blockchain bloat (that other proposalsentail)isavoidedcompletely,andby
using Opacitys existing encryption mechanism, no one except for the user can know a files
source or destination. Opal is constantly striving to improve on existing systems while
providingadirectbenefittoallthoseusingtheOpacitySecuritySuite.

NOTE:Whitepapertobeexpandeduponwithfuturedevelopments.