nucypher/docs/source/index.rst

170 lines
4.4 KiB
ReStructuredText
Raw Blame History

This file contains ambiguous Unicode characters!

This file contains ambiguous Unicode characters that may be confused with others in your current locale. If your use case is intentional and legitimate, you can safely ignore this warning. Use the Escape button to highlight these characters.

Introduction
=============
.. _Umbral: https://github.com/nucypher/pyUmbral
The NuCypher network is a decentralized network of nodes that perform threshold
cryptography operations serving users with secrets management and dynamic access control.
``nucypher`` is the python library and CLI for interacting with the
decentralized threshold cryptography network.
How does NuCypher work?
-----------------------
.. image:: ./.static/img/nucypher_overview.svg
:target: ./.static/img/nucypher_overview.svg
1. Alice, the data owner, grants access to her encrypted data to
anyone she wants by creating a policy and uploading it to
the NuCypher network.
2. A group of Ursulas, which are nodes on the NuCypher network,
receive information about the policy, called a ``PolicyArrangement`` that include
a re-encryption key share. The Ursulas stand ready to re-encrypt data in exchange for payment
in fees and token rewards. Thanks to the use of proxy re-encryption,
Ursulas and the storage layer never have access to Alice's plaintext data.
3. Each policy created by Alice has an associated encryption key, which can be used
by any entity (Enrico) to encrypt data on Alice's behalf.
This entity could be an IoT device in her car, a collaborator assigned
the task of writing data to her policy, or even a third-party creating
data that belongs to her for example, a lab analyzing medical tests.
The resulting encrypted data can be uploaded to IPFS, Swarm, S3,
or any other storage layer.
4. Bob, a data recipient, obtains the encrypted data from the storage layer and sends an access request
to the NuCypher network. If the policy is satisfied, the data is re-encrypted to his public key
and he can decrypt it with his private key.
5. Ursulas earn fees and token rewards for performing
re-encryption operations.
More detailed information:
- GitHub https://www.github.com/nucypher/nucypher
- Website https://www.nucypher.com/
Whitepapers
-----------
**Network**
https://github.com/nucypher/whitepaper/blob/master/whitepaper.pdf
*"NuCypher - A proxy re-encryption network to empower privacy in decentralized systems"*
*by Michael Egorov, David Nuñez, and MacLane Wilkison - NuCypher*
**Economics**
https://github.com/nucypher/whitepaper/blob/master/economics/staking_protocol/NuCypher_Staking_Protocol_Economics.pdf
*"NuCypher Network: Staking Protocol & Economics"*
*by Michael Egorov, MacLane Wilkison, Arjun Hassard - NuCypher*
https://github.com/nucypher/whitepaper/blob/master/economics/pricing_protocol/NuCypher_Network__Pricing_Protocol_Economics.pdf
*"NuCypher Network: Pricing Protocol & Economics"*
*by Arjun Hassard - NuCypher*
**Cryptography**
https://github.com/nucypher/umbral-doc/blob/master/umbral-doc.pdf
*"Umbral A Threshold Proxy Re-Encryption Scheme"*
*by David Nuñez - NuCypher*
.. toctree::
:maxdepth: 1
:caption: Staking
staking/overview
staking/stake_initialization
staking/stake_management
staking/running_a_worker
staking/best_practices
staking/worklock
staking/testnet
staking/remote_worker_cli
.. toctree::
:maxdepth: 1
:caption: Application Development
application_development/getting_started
application_development/http_character_control
application_development/cli_examples
application_development/local_fleet_demo
application_development/testnet
.. toctree::
:maxdepth: 2
:caption: References
references/pip-installation
references/cli_reference
references/signers
references/environment_variables
references/networks
.. toctree::
:maxdepth: 1
:caption: Demos
demos/finnegans_wake_demo
demos/heartbeat_demo
.. toctree::
:maxdepth: 1
:caption: Architecture
architecture/character
architecture/worklock
architecture/contracts
architecture/upgradeable_proxy_contracts
architecture/dao
architecture/sub_stakes
architecture/slashing
architecture/service_fees
.. toctree::
:maxdepth: 1
:caption: APIS
api/modules
contracts_api/index
.. toctree::
:maxdepth: 1
:caption: Release Notes
release_notes/genesis_release
release_notes/pre_release_epics
release_notes/releases.rst
.. toctree::
:maxdepth: 1
:caption: Support
support/contribution
support/node_providers
support/community
support/troubleshooting
support/faq
glossary
Indices and Tables
==================
* :ref:`genindex`
* :ref:`modindex`
* :ref:`search`