Privacy and Security in Dekoh

Dekoh gives the user complete control on sharing of content. If nothing is shared, it is like installing a desktop application. No content is accessible to anyone other than the owner of the computer.

Dekoh implements security in the following ways:

1. All Dekoh applications have a role based security. There are 2 default roles "Owner" and "Viewer". The user role is automatically determined based on where the request originated. If the request is from a browser on the same computer "localhost", the user gets owner privilages. Requests from Dekoh network are treated as viewrs.

Owners have add/import/modify/edit/delete functionality enabled. Viewer can just only see the content as exposed by the owner.

2. Dekoh network access are authenticated and validated before requesting the desktop to send the content. All viewers are supplied with a password and they are first aunthenticated. Dekoh network later verifies if the the viewer is in the buddylist of the owner. If that is true then the Dekoh network requests the desktop for the content viewer wants to view, passing the credentials of the viewer. Dekoh Desktop checks if the content is indeed shared for the viewer and sends the content to Dekoh network. To summarize: - An intruder is stopped right at the Dekoh network gateway - A registered user who is not in the buddylist of owner is stopped at dekoh Network - A buddy for whom the content is not shared is denied access by Dekoh Desktop on owener's computer - Direct access to owners computer thru HTTP is not possible as the web server is bound to local port. Even if the owner's computer has public IP no one can connect to dekoh desktop directly

3. Dekoh desktop sharing provides multiple spheres of secure sharing. Owner has the flexibility to decide who can have access to which applications/content. It is also possible to make content fully private by adding to "Never share" list.

4. It is not possible for any buddy to directly access files on owner's computer. Dekoh applications only keep a reference to the actual file (music, video, photo, documents...) when it is imported or added (references are called DIO - short for DIgital Object). A file that does not have a DIO created in Dekoh application can never be accessed. Each DIO can be associated with one or more shares. Only those buddies who are added to the shares that this DIO is part have access to view it