NAKPAK

Post-quantum onion routing for anonymous communication across the YAKMESH network. Rope bridges connecting mountain peaks.

Overview

NAKPAK provides anonymous routing through the YAKMESH network. Messages are wrapped in multiple layers of encryption, with each relay node only knowing the previous and next hop. Unlike traditional onion routing, NAKPAK uses post-quantum cryptography (ML-KEM768) for key encapsulation.

How It Works

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                   NAKPAK Onion Routing                     │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                            │
│   Sender                                                   │
│      │                                                     │
│      │  Encrypt(L3(Encrypt(L2(Encrypt(L1(msg))))))         │
│      │                                                     │
│      ▼                                                     │
│   ┌───────┐    ┌───────┐    ┌───────┐    ┌───────┐        │
│   │Relay 1│ ─► │Relay 2│ ─► │Relay 3│ ─► │ Dest  │        │
│   │Decrypt│    │Decrypt│    │Decrypt│    │Receive│        │
│   │Layer 3│    │Layer 2│    │Layer 1│    │  msg  │        │
│   └───────┘    └───────┘    └───────┘    └───────┘        │
│                                                            │
│   Each relay only knows: previous hop + next hop           │
│   No relay knows both sender AND destination               │
│                                                            │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Circuit Construction

NAKPAK builds circuits through 3+ relay nodes:

1. Path Selection - Choose relay nodes from SHERPA peer registry
2. Key Exchange - ML-KEM768 encapsulation with each relay
3. Layer Building - Encrypt message for each hop (innermost to outermost)
4. Transmission - Send through circuit, each relay decrypts one layer

Usage

// Access NAKPAK from your node
const nakpak = node.nakpak;

// Build a circuit to a destination
const circuit = await nakpak.buildCircuit({
  destination: 'targetNodeId',
  hops: 3,  // Number of relay hops (default: 3)
});

// Send anonymous message through circuit
await nakpak.send(circuit.id, {
  type: 'private-message',
  content: 'This message is anonymous!'
});

// Receive anonymous messages
nakpak.onMessage((envelope) => {
  // Note: envelope.from is the circuit ID, not the sender
  console.log('Anonymous message:', envelope.payload);
});

// Close circuit when done
await nakpak.closeCircuit(circuit.id);

Configuration

// yakmesh.config.js
export default {
  nakpak: {
    enabled: true,
    
    // Default circuit settings
    defaultHops: 3,
    maxHops: 5,
    
    // Circuit lifetime
    circuitTimeout: 600000,  // 10 minutes
    
    // Acting as relay
    allowRelay: true,
    maxRelayCircuits: 100,
  }
};

Security Considerations

Comparison with Tor

Use Cases

• • Anonymous Messaging - Private communication without metadata exposure
• • Whistleblowing - Submit sensitive information anonymously
• • Privacy Markets - Anonymous trading on PeerQuanta marketplace
• • Censorship Resistance - Bypass network-level blocking

Etymology