HyphaCrypt

HyphaCrypt is the custom cryptographic and encoding tool designed for the Seigr Urcelial-net's .seg file format. Inspired by the resilience and structure of hyphal networks, HyphaCrypt supports secure, efficient, and adaptable data encoding, encryption, and integrity verification. Its nature-inspired design allows Seigr Urcelial-net to handle sensitive data with high security, ensuring traceability, resilience, and decentralized accessibility.

HyphaCrypt combines senary encoding (base-6 encoding) with a layered cryptographic approach. Key features include multi-phase transformations, adaptive hashing, dynamic salting, and secure random number generation. These mechanisms work together to prevent unauthorized access, tampering, and reverse engineering while ensuring traceability and flexibility across the network.

Purpose of HyphaCrypt

In Seigr Urcelial-net, data security and authenticity are paramount. With its modular design for `.seg` files, HyphaCrypt provides encoding and cryptographic functionality that ensures each `.seg` file maintains integrity, authenticity, and accessibility. By applying nature-inspired cryptographic principles, HyphaCrypt supports Seigr Urcelial-net’s mission to create a secure, inclusive, and transparent system.

Key Features of HyphaCrypt

HyphaCrypt introduces advanced cryptographic and encoding processes that balance security with flexibility, making it suitable for the distributed `.seg` file format. Key features include:

Senary Encoding: Converts binary data into base-6 format, making data compact and accessible. This encoding is unique to HyphaCrypt and fundamental in creating `.seg` files.
Progressive Senary Transformations: Each byte undergoes transformations, including bit rotations and non-linear substitutions, for added complexity and security.
SHA-256 Hashing with Dynamic Salting: Generates cryptographic hashes using SHA-256, dynamic salts, and optional keys, enhancing security and collision resistance.
Xorshift-based Secure Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG): Supplies entropy and randomness for HyphaCrypt’s operations, ensuring cryptographic robustness without reliance on external libraries.

Technical Overview

HyphaCrypt integrates several cryptographic methods and encoding transformations to create a self-contained security tool. The following sections explain the technical processes and security strategies that make HyphaCrypt a trusted tool within Seigr Urcelial-net.

Senary Encoding and Decoding

HyphaCrypt’s senary encoding converts binary data into base-6 format (using digits 0-5), compacting data for device-friendly storage. Each byte of binary data is encoded in the following steps:

1. Substitution-Permutation Transformation (SPN): A progressive transformation is applied to each byte using bitwise shifts and substitutions based on the byte's position. 2. Base-6 Encoding: The transformed byte is converted to base-6, maintaining a compact output while enhancing obfuscation.

Example of Encoding Process: ```plaintext Binary Input: [01010111] SPN Transformation: [11101001] Base-6 Encoded: "32" ```

Progressive Senary Transformations

HyphaCrypt’s progressive encoding applies complex transformations to each byte, making the data more secure:

Substitution-Permutation Network (SPN): Each byte is transformed with a non-linear substitution followed by a bit rotation, based on the byte’s position.
Dependency Chain: Every byte in a `.seg` file depends on the previous byte’s transformation, making reverse engineering harder.

Example of SPN Transformation:

Each byte undergoes a bit rotation, substitution with a position-based constant, and final base-6 encoding, ensuring each byte is dependent on the prior transformation.

SHA-256 Hashing with Dynamic Salting

HyphaCrypt’s hashing mechanism is customized to handle `.seg` files securely within Seigr Urcelial-net. It combines **SHA-256 hashing** with dynamic salts, producing highly secure and unique hashes for each `.seg` file.

SHA-256 Hashing: Provides cryptographic strength and collision resistance.
Dynamic Salting Mechanism: Uses a dynamically generated salt based on timestamp, UUID, and entropy from HyphaCrypt’s PRNG. This salt is unique for each operation, enhancing security against attacks.
Optional Keyed Hashing: The hash can include an optional key, further increasing resistance to unauthorized replication.

Example of SHA-256 Hash Generation:

Data: "encoded data segment"
UUID-based Salt: "a67f...3210"
SHA-256 Hash Output: "3a1f...9e4c"

Dynamic Salting Mechanism

To prevent predictable patterns, HyphaCrypt generates dynamic salts using various entropy sources:

UUID and Timestamp: A UUID combined with a timestamp provides a high-entropy salt unique to each hashing operation.
Secure PRNG Enhancement: A secure PRNG contributes additional entropy to the salt, guarding against rainbow table attacks and ensuring each hash is distinct, even if the data is similar.

This dynamic salting ensures that even identical data will produce unique hash outputs.

Secure Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG)

HyphaCrypt includes a custom PRNG, based on the **Xorshift algorithm**, designed for cryptographic security. This PRNG produces random values essential for encoding, hashing, and salting.

Xorshift Algorithm: A cryptographic-strength PRNG that avoids predictable sequences.
Secure Seed Generation: The PRNG is seeded with system-generated randomness (`urandom`), providing strong entropy.
Output Diversity: The random numbers generated by the PRNG support HyphaCrypt’s various cryptographic functions, ensuring robustness and randomness.

Example of PRNG Sequence:

Seed: 0x9a7bc1d2
Random Output: 0x57892183

Security Advantages of HyphaCrypt

HyphaCrypt provides distinct security benefits, making it ideal for managing sensitive data in Seigr Urcelial-net:

Data Obfuscation: By combining SPN transformations, bit rotations, and base-6 encoding, HyphaCrypt obfuscates `.seg` files, making it difficult for attackers to decode or reverse-engineer.
Tamper Detection: SHA-256 hashing, combined with unique dynamic salts, ensures that tampering with data is immediately detectable.
Dynamic Unpredictability: The dynamic salting and Xorshift PRNG add significant unpredictability, protecting data from cryptographic attacks like rainbow tables and hash collisions.
Self-Contained Cryptography: HyphaCrypt’s design avoids dependency on external libraries, enhancing control and security within Seigr Urcelial-net’s ecosystem.

Applications within Seigr Urcelial-net

HyphaCrypt plays a vital role in the Seigr Urcelial-net ecosystem, specifically through its applications in encoding, hashing, and protecting `.seg` files. Key applications include:

Encoding Data in .seg Files: Converts data into a compact, secure senary format, making distributed storage space-efficient and secure.
Generating Cryptographic Hashes: Creates tamper-proof SHA-256 hashes to ensure data integrity across nodes, linking each `.seg` file within a secure chain.
Adaptive Replication: Uses the generated hashes and replication counts to determine additional `.seg` copies, ensuring data availability for frequently accessed files.
Traceability and Contributor Logging: Provides a secure way to log contributors in Seigr Urcelial-net, supporting transparent and ethical digital rights management.

Conclusion

HyphaCrypt is more than a cryptographic tool; it is integral to Seigr Urcelial-net’s vision for a secure, decentralized, and community-driven network. By implementing nature-inspired cryptographic strategies—such as senary encoding, SHA-256 hashing, dynamic salting, and Xorshift PRNG—HyphaCrypt allows Seigr to manage and protect data with a balance of efficiency, integrity, and security. Supporting traceability, accessibility, and decentralized management, HyphaCrypt enables the Seigr network to grow as a trusted, resilient, and transparent ecosystem.

Whether you’re an expert in cryptography or a newcomer to decentralized systems, HyphaCrypt represents a leap forward in cryptographic system design, built with resilience, ethics, and accessibility at its core.