The Internals of Veilid, a New Decentralized Application Framework

Presented at DEF CON 31 (2023), Aug. 11, 2023, 9 a.m. (45 minutes)

Veilid is an open-source, peer-to-peer, mobile-first networked application framework, with a flagship secure messaging application named VeilidChat. Veilid is conceptually similar to IPFS + Tor, but faster and designed from the ground-up to provide all services over a privately routed network. The network also enables development of distributed applications without a 'blockchain' or a 'transactional layer' at their base. Veilid can be included as part of user-facing applications or run as a standalone server for power users who wish to help build the network. Architecturally, it is written in Rust, uses strong encryption, and nodes can run on Linux, Mac, Windows, Android, iOS, and in-browser WASM. Low-level protocols over UDP, raw TCP, Websockets and Secure Websockets. Nodes are optimized for low latency, high node churn, and are particularly capable of dealing with low level network changes, such as switching from cellular to wifi networks mid-communication. This talk will focus on the internals of Veilid: * How it works as a protocol * How it leverages strong cryptography to provide private communications * How it provides decentralized storage and cryptographically sound data structures * How applications are written to leverage the Veilid Network We will demonstrate Veilid Server, and VeilidChat, the application. REFERENCES: Tor Project: www.torproject.org IPFS: www.ipfs.tech

Presenters:

  • Christien Rioux / DilDog - Cult Of The Dead Cow   as Christien "DilDog" Rioux
    Christien 'DilDog' Rioux is a member of The Cult Of The Dead Cow, the author of remote-access utility Back Orifice 2000, and a thorn in Microsoft's side for over a decade. DilDog is the creator of StuntBanana, a caller-id spoofing system, and is proprietor of the hacker-fashion line HACK.XXX. He is also Co-Founder and former Chief Scientist of Veracode, on the founding team of @stake, as well as a member of L0pht Heavy Industries. DilDog is a staunch believer that if you want to change the present you need to build the future, and is very sorry for having helped create "InfoSec" from hacking, and would like to undo the damage.
  • Katelyn Bowden / Medus4 - Cult Of The Dead Cow   as Katelyn "Medus4" Bowden
    Katelyn Bowden is a hacker, activist, and CULT OF THE DEAD cow member, who embraces the human side of hacking and tech. She also creates strange furby art and has over 60 dead things on display in her house.

Links:

Similar Presentations: