Advanced Encryption Techniques for Zero-Trust Secret Sharing

CipherSend is built on strong cryptography. When you add client-side encryption to your workflow, you guarantee that sensitive data never leaves a recipient's device in plaintext. This guide explains how to enable, enforce, and optimize encryption for every secret.

Why Client-Side Encryption Matters

• Zero-knowledge: CipherSend servers never see your plaintext
• Defense-in-depth: Protects against compromised storage or transport
• Compliance-ready: Delivers evidence for SOC 2, HIPAA, and GDPR audits

Reality check: A 2024 IBM Cost of a Data Breach report found that strong encryption reduces breach costs by 49%.

Encryption Architecture Overview

CipherSend uses the Web Crypto API to encrypt content before transmission:

1. Generate a 256-bit AES-GCM key in the browser
2. Derive the key with PBKDF2 from the customer's passphrase
3. Encrypt the payload locally
4. Upload only the ciphertext, salt, and iv

graph TD
  A[User enters secret + passphrase] --> B[PBKDF2 derives AES key]
  B --> C[Encrypt secret via AES-GCM]
  C --> D[Upload ciphertext + metadata]
  D --> E[Store in KV for 24h]
  E --> F[Recipient downloads package]
  F --> G[Recipient enters passphrase]
  G --> H[Decrypt client-side]

Hardening Passphrase Policies

• Require minimum length of 12 characters
• Enforce mixed character sets (uppercase, lowercase, number, symbol)
• Optionally integrate with enterprise password managers using deep links
• Share passphrases via out-of-band channel (SMS, phone call, or secure messenger)

Recommended Derivation Settings

Automating Encryption in Integrations

JavaScript SDK Blueprint

const encoder = new TextEncoder();
const payload = encoder.encode(secretValue);

const salt = crypto.getRandomValues(new Uint8Array(16));
const derivedKey = await crypto.subtle.importKey(
  "raw",
  encoder.encode(passphrase),
  "PBKDF2",
  false,
  ["deriveKey"],
);

const aesKey = await crypto.subtle.deriveKey(
  {
    name: "PBKDF2",
    salt,
    iterations: 310000,
    hash: "SHA-256",
  },
  derivedKey,
  { name: "AES-GCM", length: 256 },
  false,
  ["encrypt", "decrypt"],
);

const iv = crypto.getRandomValues(new Uint8Array(12));
const cipherBuffer = await crypto.subtle.encrypt(
  { name: "AES-GCM", iv },
  aesKey,
  payload,
);

Terraform Snippet for Environment Rotation

resource "random_password" "cipher_passphrase" {
  length  = 24
  special = true
}

resource "vault_kv_secret" "cipher_config" {
  path = "apps/ciphersend/production"

  data_json = jsonencode({
    client_side_encryption = {
      passphrase      = random_password.cipher_passphrase.result
      rotation_window = "24h"
    }
  })
}

Monitoring & Analytics

Track encryption adoption to showcase program success:

• Volume of encrypted vs. unencrypted secrets
• Average passphrase strength (via zxcvbn score)
• Time to decrypt for recipients
• Incidents prevented by encryption enforcement

Compliance Checklist

• ✅ Document encryption configuration in security policies
• ✅ Provide evidence of client-side encryption in audits
• ✅ Ensure passphrase distribution policy covers out-of-band channels
• ✅ Maintain logs demonstrating encryption usage

Troubleshooting Encryption Issues

Ready to roll out encryption by default?

Last updated: November 5, 2024 Reading time: 9 minutes