Secure File-Sharing Platform

A full-stack application for secure file management and sharing with end-to-end encryption. Built with an MVC pattern, a Microservice Architecture, and a layered data flow with encryption to prioritize data privacy and scalability.

Table of Contents

• Project Overview
• Tech Stack
• Architecture Overview
• Design Patterns
• Microservices
• Data Flow and Security
• Installation and Setup
• Usage
• API Endpoints
• Future Improvements
• License

Project Overview

This platform allows users to securely upload, download, and share files with advanced encryption using the AES-256 encryption standard. It uses AWS for cloud storage and features a layered data flow with end-to-end encryption to ensure data security.

Tech Stack

• Frontend: Still deciding
• Backend: Spring Boot (Java), MVC Pattern, Microservice Architecture
• Database: MongoDB (File metadata), AWS S3 (File storage)
• Encryption: AES-256 Encryption
• Cloud Provider: AWS

Architecture Overview

This project will be built using the Microservice Architecture. Key services include:

1. Auth Service: Manages user authentication, role-based access control, and token validation.
2. File Service: Handles file upload, download, encryption, and secure sharing.
3. Notification Service: Sends user notifications for file-related events.
4. Activity Logging Service: Logs user actions for auditing and security.

Design Patterns

• MVC Pattern: Organizes code into Models, Views, and Controllers to separate concerns.
• Factory Pattern: Used for creating encryption and decryption instances.
• Decorator Pattern: Adds security layers (e.g., authorization checks) around file handling functions.
• Facade Pattern: Simplifies interactions with AWS services (S3, IAM, etc.).
• Observer Pattern: Used to handle activity logging and notifications.
• Strategy Pattern: Allows flexibility to switch encryption algorithms in the future if needed.

Microservices

1. Auth Service

• Endpoints:
  • /register: User registration
  • /login: User login
  • /logout: User logout
  • /validate-token: Validate user token and permissions
• Data: Manages user information, authentication tokens, and role permissions.

2. File Service

• Endpoints:
  • /upload: Upload files securely with encryption
  • /download/{fileId}: Download encrypted files after decryption
  • /share: Share files with unique, expirable links
  • /revoke-share: Revoke file-sharing permissions
• Data: Metadata for files (file ID, name, owner, permissions) stored in MongoDB; encrypted files stored in AWS S3.

3. Notification Service

• Endpoints:
  • /notify: Send notifications to users for file actions (e.g., file sharing)
  • /get-notifications: Retrieve user notifications
• Data: Notification details (event type, user, file link, etc.).

4. Activity Logging Service

• Endpoints:
  • /log-activity: Log user actions related to file management
  • /get-logs: Retrieve activity logs for auditing
• Data: Logs include actions like file uploads, downloads, deletions, and shares.