WHAT WE CANNOT READ CANNOT LEAK.
Noira is built on a single principle: we cannot read what we cannot decrypt. Every cryptographic guarantee below is verifiable. None rely on trust.
ENCRYPTED IN-BROWSER
Terms are encrypted on your device before they ever leave your browser. Noira's servers receive ciphertext only. The plaintext never traverses the network, never touches our infrastructure, and never exists anywhere outside the parties who hold the keys.
Mechanism: VetKeys threshold key derivation. Encryption keys are generated and applied client-side via the @dfinity/vetkeys SDK before any data is written to the canister.
YOU HOLD THE KEYS
Only you and your parties can decrypt. Noira never sees your content, never holds a decryption key, and has no mechanism to recover plaintext. If you lose access, your contracts stay encrypted forever. That's the tradeoff for zero-knowledge.
Mechanism: Keys are derived from your Internet Identity principal and the contract's access list. The canister can issue encrypted key shares to authorized parties but cannot assemble the full key itself.
VERIFIABLE PRIVACY
Cryptographic guarantees ensure Noira cannot access your agreements. This is not a policy claim; it's a mathematical one. The encryption happens before data reaches the canister, so even a fully compromised canister cannot decrypt stored terms.
Mechanism: Threshold ECDSA via a threshold subnet. No single entity holds the private key. Signatures are produced by the subnet collectively, meaning no operator, no host, and no insider can forge or alter a signature.
AUDITABLE FOREVER
Immutable records and timestamps provide permanent auditability. Every contract action, creation, party addition, signature, and execution, is recorded onchain with a verifiable timestamp. Records persist as long as the canister runs and can be exported as standalone proof.
Mechanism: Canister state is replicated across the subnet. Certified reads (certified_data) allow any third party to verify a record was produced by the canister, independent of block history.
THREE NODES. ZERO TRUST.
YOUR BROWSER
Encrypts contract terms in-browser using VetKeys-derived keys before any data leaves the device.
NOIRA NETWORK
Stores encrypted ciphertext only. Knows a contract exists, who the parties are, and its status. Nothing more.
YOU HOLD THE KEYS
Only you and your authorized parties can decrypt and access contract content. Noira has no recovery path, no backdoor, no master key.
THREE SHAPES.
ONE PRINCIPLE.
The same diagram that anchors the privacy section, repeated here for reference. Browser, network, keys: the three nodes that define what Noira can and cannot touch.
YOUR BROWSER
Encrypts in-browser.
NOIRA NETWORK
Stores encrypted data. Knows a contract exists. Nothing more.
YOU HOLD THE KEYS
Only you and your parties can decrypt and access the content.
WHAT NOIRA CAN AND CANNOT SEE
CAN SEE:
- Your principal (public identifier)
- Contract metadata (title, parties, status, timestamps)
- Encrypted ciphertext (unreadable)
CANNOT SEE:
- Contract terms (plaintext)
- Decryption keys
- Signature private keys
INTERNET IDENTITY
No passwords. No email required. Authentication is handled by Internet Identity, the platform's native identity provider. Your identity is anchored to a cryptographic principal, not an email address or a phone number. Noira never receives a password and cannot reset your identity.
THRESHOLD SIGNATURES
Contract signatures are produced by the subnet collectively, not by any single party's wallet. No operator holds the signing key. Signatures are standalone cryptographic objects verifiable against the canister's public key, forever, independent of blockchain state.
OPEN PROTOCOL
Noira runs on a public, permissionless blockchain. The canister code is verifiable. The encryption primitives are open standards (VetKeys, threshold ECDSA, BLS). Nothing about Noira's security depends on a private server, a trusted third party, or a proprietary black box.
WHAT CAN NOIRA ACTUALLY VALIDATE?
Noira encrypts contracts in your browser before they ever reach the canister, so the canister only ever stores ciphertext. It can validate structure — well-formed ciphertext and a valid principal — but it cannot validate contract content. Validation happens in the browser before encryption. This is a deliberate tradeoff: privacy over server-side oversight. Validated structure, encrypted content.
Noira cannot read your contracts. By design. By cryptography. Not by promise.