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| author | Christophe Besson <cbesson@gmail.com> | 2026-10-01 12:05:12 +0200 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Christophe Besson <cbesson@gmail.com> | 2026-10-01 12:05:12 +0200 |
| commit | 0d9d91eeea9001ea3838272416e3d526b6a2a1fc (patch) | |
| tree | 65aeb3efb4dea81d04c454c9c345b0df2949d9b7 /docs/USERGUIDE.md | |
| parent | 760ac421b1944cd69a80e3a92127a1a966f15938 (diff) | |
| download | meshbay-0d9d91eeea9001ea3838272416e3d526b6a2a1fc.tar.gz | |
docs: chat at rest is protected from a copy without the unlock key, not from a disk
unlock.key sits beside keystore.enc by default, so a whole disk, an image or a
home-directory backup opens the stored chat. The claims table, §4.5 and the
user guide say so and name what protects those: disk encryption, or the unlock
key on other storage (F-20).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Diffstat (limited to 'docs/USERGUIDE.md')
| -rw-r--r-- | docs/USERGUIDE.md | 11 |
1 files changed, 10 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/docs/USERGUIDE.md b/docs/USERGUIDE.md index eb9452e..e92f6bc 100644 --- a/docs/USERGUIDE.md +++ b/docs/USERGUIDE.md @@ -893,13 +893,22 @@ the confirmation on destructive commands. `man meshbay-node` has the full page. | `~/.config/meshbay/node.toml` | configuration — hand-edited, commented, preserved | | `~/.config/meshbay/node.env` | environment: keystore unlock, third-party tokens | | `~/.config/meshbay/keystore.enc` | the node's own keys. **Back this up.** | -| `~/.config/meshbay/unlock.key` | what opens the keystore. Mode 0600. | +| `~/.config/meshbay/unlock.key` | what opens the keystore. Mode 0600. Whoever has both files opens the keystore, and with it the group chat this node stores | | `~/.local/share/meshbay/` | roster, indexes, chat, caches, thumbnails | | `/opt/meshbay-common/venv/` | the shared Python environment | Losing the keystore means a new node identity: every group has to be re-linked and every member re-admitted. It is small — back it up somewhere safe. +The chat this node stores is encrypted under the keystore, and the keystore is +opened by `unlock.key`, which sits beside it. A stolen disk, an image of the +machine or a backup of your home directory therefore holds everything needed to +read it. What protects those is the disk's own encryption — BitLocker or device +encryption on Windows, LUKS on Linux — or keeping the unlock key on other +storage: point `[keystore] unlock_file` in `node.toml` at it and remove +`unlock.key`. (`node.env` is in the same directory, so moving the key there +changes nothing.) The node then cannot start without that storage. + ### Ports | | | |