The problem DocSafe solves

Our project aims to provide a secure and decentralized platform for sharing encrypted and permissioned documents such as audit reports. By leveraging blockchain technology, we can ensure that the documents are stored securely and can only be accessed by authorized parties. The smart contract we are using creates a safe for each document, which is then encrypted and stored on IPFS. The safe’s content address (CID) is then stored on the smart contract. To further enhance trust and verifiability, we incorporate the concept of on-chain attestations. While not directly integrating with any specific attestation service in this initial prototype, the system is designed with future integration in mind. The vision is that document hashes (or Merkle roots) could be attested to by designated authorities (e.g., the document creator, an auditor) and recorded on the blockchain, providing verifiable proof of the document's origin and authenticity. This attestation data, which would ideally include the document's CID, the attesting entity's address, and a timestamp, could then be used by clients to verify the document's integrity before accessing it on IPFS. Each safe has a name and an owner, who can add or remove other authorized parties. Users can only access the folders that they have been granted permission to view.

It also allows users to enhance the security of their important files by adding NFT gated access. This feature is particularly beneficial for decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) as it allows access to a specific safe to be whitelist only for a particular DAO NFT. With this functionality, all members holding the DAO NFT can easily access the files stored in the designated safe.

Features:

Create a new safe
Upload encrypted files to a safe
Share safe with specific users
Grant or revoke access to a safe for specific user
Download files from a safe
Delete files from a safe
Delete a safe

Challenges we ran into

One challenge we faced was optimizing the smart contract's gas usage for handling large numbers of permissions and files within a safe. Another key hurdle was ensuring seamless integration between IPFS for storage and the smart contract for access control while maintaining a user-friendly experience.

Additional Features

Project working: DocSafe ensures that the encrypted files stored in the safes are easily accessible by utilizing the IPFS. Additionally, it employs a smart contract to store the safe's information and is designed with the potential for on-chain attestations of document integrity, thereby ensuring that the safes can only be accessed by authorized addresses.

Use cases:

Sharing wallet-to-wallet encrypted files: Users can create a safe and share it with other users to securely exchange wallet-to-wallet encrypted files.
Token gated access: Users can create a safe and grant access to it only to users who hold a specific token. This can be useful for sharing sensitive information or resources within a community or a DAO.