TAMIAS: A distributed storage built on privacy and identity

J. Lorchat , Cristel Pelsser , Randy Bush , K. Shima , H. Schlesinger and L. Johansson

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Abstract

In this paper we present Tamias, a new distributed storage system. Tamias has identity and privacy at its core and builds upon it to bring fine-grained sharing features, delegation and revocation. It is can be used upon any lowlevel distributed storage that has full encryption outside the client. An identity is defined by a public-key that is circulated by the user among other users to introduce himself. In such a situation, introduction is an important step, and out-of-band is always going to be the safest bet. However, we also defined several optional in-band introduction mechanisms. Users can publish information about themselves, solicit other users with a self-introduction, and recommend users they trust to a third party. Finally, using public-key cryptography mechanisms, they can establish secure communication channels that allow to share objects safely within the Tamias storage system. Such a storage is a key piece of technology required by anyone who is privacy conscious, wants to make private online backups, or who is generally worried about Cloud-like online systems taking away their personal data.

Publication Details

Publication Type
Journal Article
Publication Date
May 2012
Published In
TERENA Networking Conference 2012: Networking to Services, TNC 2012
Location
Reykjavik, Island

BibTeX Citation

@article{Shima2012,
	title        = {TAMIAS: A distributed storage built on privacy and identity},
	author       = {Lorchat, J. and Pelsser, Cristel and Bush, Randy and Shima, K. and Schlesinger, H. and Johansson, L.},
	year         = 2012,
	month        = may,
	journal      = {TERENA Networking Conference 2012: Networking to Services, {TNC} 2012},
	location     = {Reykjavik, Island},
	abstract     = {In this paper we present Tamias, a new distributed storage system. Tamias has identity and privacy at its core and builds upon it to bring fine-grained sharing features, delegation and revocation. It is can be used upon any lowlevel distributed storage that has full encryption outside the client. An identity is defined by a public-key that is circulated by the user among other users to introduce himself. In such a situation, introduction is an important step, and out-of-band is always going to be the safest bet. However, we also defined several optional in-band introduction mechanisms. Users can publish information about themselves, solicit other users with a self-introduction, and recommend users they trust to a third party. Finally, using public-key cryptography mechanisms, they can establish secure communication channels that allow to share objects safely within the Tamias storage system. Such a storage is a key piece of technology required by anyone who is privacy conscious, wants to make private online backups, or who is generally worried about Cloud-like online systems taking away their personal data.},
	groups       = {International Conferences},
	keywords     = {privacy, user identity, user introduction, distributed storage, document sharing}
}

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