Cyphernet library: release v0.1

[dr-orlovsky]

Set of libraries for privacy-preserving networking & internet applications written in rust. Supports mix networks (Tor, I2P, Nym), proxies, end-to-end encryption without central authorities/PKI (Noise-based encryption protocols like lightning wire protocol, NTLS etc).

The library provides three main components, structured as modules:

• Network addresses (sub-crate cypheraddr), which allow simple use of
  • Tor, Nym, I2P and other mix networks and SOCKS proxies
  • P2P addresses with node public keys
  • May be used in a way that prevents using DNS names (outside mixnet scope).
• Noise protocol framework (sub-crate noise-framework) for end-to-end encrypted network communications.
• SOCKS5 client (sub-crate socks5-client) for accessing Tor and other mixnets via proxy.

All the components has a minimal set of non-optional dependencies and short compile times. For instance, SOCKS5 proxy and cyphernet addresses both have zero non-optional dependencies.

The library tries to minimize number of dependencies. Most of its functionality is available via non-default features, like:

• noise: support for noise protocols;
• mixnets: supports for mixnet network addresses, including tor, nym, i2p (may require additional crypto libraries for parsing public keys);
• serde: encoding for addresses types;
• dns: enable use of DNS names alongside IP addresses and mixnet names.

Network addresses provided by the library include the following types:

• InetHost - IP addr or DNS name
• HostName - IP, DNS, Tor, I2P, Nym host name (no port or proxy information)
• NetAddr - any type of host name + port information
• PartialAddr - any type of host name + optional port, which defaults to generic const if not provided
• PeerAddr - any of the above addresses + node public key for authentication
• ProxiedHost - host name + proxy (there are IP/DNS w/o proxy and with proxy)
• ProxiedAddr - any of the above addresses + proxy (thus IP/DNS is always proxied)

Documentation

API reference documentation for the library can be accessed at https://docs.rs/cyphernet/.

About cyphernet

Cyphernet is a conceptual approach for a privacy-preserving networking, based on the following stack of layers: