Cross-device Channel Handling
Secure Channel Establishment with Cipher
Cipher supports two primary methods to establish a secure communication channel across different devices or users:
1. In-person Channel Creation (Optimal)
The highest level of security is achieved when both parties meet physically to co-create a structured channel. This method eliminates digital transfer and removes any risk of interception, spoofing, or manipulation.
Each participant:
Locally generates a keypair (private/public)
Agrees with the other on a structured channel conforming to Cipher’s format
Uses the structured password and exchanged public key to initialize secure communication
This method provides maximum trust, no third-party exposure, and total cryptographic independence.
2. Remote Channel Creation via ZKP Method
When in-person coordination is not possible, Cipher enables secure remote channel exchange using a one-time zero-knowledge proof-based handshake.
Steps:
Both users generate a temporary public/private keypair.
One user defines a valid neutral structured channel to be used just for the key exchange. This can be any structured password that conforms to Cipher format — for example, a channel made entirely of 2s or 5s, provided it meets the digit sum and format constraints. Refer to [Cipher Channels Explained] for detailed formatting rules.
This neutral channel and the temporary public keys are shared through any conventional communication medium.
One user generates a complex, valid structured channel to be used permanently, and encrypts it using the neutral channel and the temporary keypair of the recipient.
The recipient decrypts the message to obtain the final secure channel.
Both users discard their temporary keys and reinitialize with new keypairs and the shared final channel.
They then exchange their new public addresses and can use them for all future communication.
In the next section, we will explore how to avoid manually managing all active keys and structured channels by creating a self-encrypted contact list that handles, stores, and secures everything automatically.
Last updated