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P2pcryptotrade was designed with a strong focus on security from the grounds up. Below is an overview of the security measures we take to protect our users. Cryptography-backed digital identities Digital identities on P2pcryptotrade are backed by a public/private key pair. Every user has a public SIN identifier attached to them (representing their public key), and a matching private key that's managed locally by the user. We use digital signatures to authenticate actions made by users, such as agreeing to a contract, posting a review or updating the profile. The digital signatures are then made available as part of our API. Our usage of cryptography achieves three primary goals

Email Authenticity: To prevent email spoofing and phishing attacks, our domains are configured with a strict DKIM and SPF policies. Please note that even with these measures in place, we will never ask for your passwords over email, and it is still important to verify you're on the correct Payfare.io domain and under SSL (look for the green padlock in the address bar) when providing passwords to our web interface.

Cryptography: We use the browser's built-in CSPRNG (crypto.getRandomValues) as the sole source for entropy. Older browsers without that are simply not supported, and are not offered any PRNG fallbacks. We generate deterministic K values for ECDSA signatures, as per RFC 6979.

Open Source: The source code for our client-side and shared libraries is available for review on our GitHub and can be audited by anyone with a technical background.

Client-side handling of private keys The Payfare web interface provides digital identity and smart contracts management using in-browser cryptography. Private keys are fully created, managed and processed using client-side code, and never touch our servers (not even in encrypted/hashed form). This puts the full control over your identity and funds in your hands – where it belongs.

Private Keys & Passwords Schema The security schema we use aims to strike a balance between usability and security. Specifically, these are our design motivations and goals:

  • As history shows, users cannot be trusted to provide a password strong enough to protect their funds. Therefore, we generate a strong and resistance to brute-force attacks password for them.
  • Users are not to be expected to remember a long machine-generated password. Therefore, we only require it once when logging-in to the account, and remember it from this point onwards.
  • Gaining unauthorized access to a logged-in browser session should not provide access to user funds. Therefore, we introduced an additional user-provided 2FA password that is required for controlling funds and authorizing transactions.
  • User-provided password might be weak and prone to brute-force attacks. Therefore, we use a strong Scrypt-based password derivation function.
  • User access to their keys and funds should not depend on the availability of P2pcryptotrade. Therefore, keys are derived directly from the user's passwords with no involvement from our servers.

To achieve that, our passwords and private keys schema involves two separate private keys with varying security properties:

  • Identity Key - derived from the generated mnemonic passphrase and used to control the user's identity. This key is used for the login process, as well as for authenticating the user's statements and actions (such as signing reviews, agreeing to a contract, updating profile fields, etc), but not for controlling funds. Strength: the mnemonic passphrase is composed of 16 words from a 2048 words list, which provides 176 bits of entropy. Handling of keys: once logged in to your P2pcryptotrade account, this key is kept in your local browser storage until you logout. You are not required to remember this password (as you won't need to type it often), but must keep a secure copy of it.
  • Hardened Key - derived from a combination of the identity key and the user-provided 2FA password. The hardened key is used as an HD master for the keys used in multi-signature contracts and is required for controlling funds.

    • Strength: deriving the hardened key requires both the generated mnemonic (176 bits of entropy) and the user-provided 2FA password (whose strength is dependent on the user).

    Handling of keys: the 2FA password is only requested when authorizing transactions. The hardened key only exists in-memory for a short period of time, and is scrubbed immediately after signing the transaction. It is never stored on your browser, and you will be required to type it from time to time.

Public key verification To authenticate messages from the Payfare staff, we will provide a digital signature from our Bitcoin address 1HL9jhrWhWtH3Qo9NE73pkxKdTjhLh6NS2. To prevent an attacker from modifying our published Bitcoin address, we have permanently embedded it into the Bitcoin blockchain in a way that is nearly impossible to modify, and becomes exponentially more difficult as time goes by. The public key can be verified by taking the following procedure:

  • Take the SHA256 of our domain name ("p2pcryptotrade.online").
  • Create a Bitcoin address using that hash as the private key (both compressed or uncompressed).
  • Find the first transaction with that address as its input address.
  • The output address of that transaction is our public key.

If its ever required to change the public key, the announcement will be signed with the old public key.

Trustless Server Model

We strive for a security model that requires as little trust as possible on our servers. While we're not there yet, our goal is to have the server-side environment operate as a simple public repository of signed user messages, where the client always considers the server to be potentially hostile and verifies everything locally. Our current security model ensures that:

.No passwords/private keys are ever processed/stored on our servers, not even in encrypted/hashed form.

.Private keys are derived from the user's passwords and are fully recoverable in case P2pcryptotrade becomes unavailable.

.To provide accountability for the data our APIs provide, we provided signed HTTP responses that allows proving the response originated from our servers.

. All user data is digitally signed by the user, to prevent unauthorized modifications (even by Payfare itself). In the future, we also plan to:

.Register our user's public keys on a public blockchain, to prevent unauthorized modifications by the server and to eliminate our role as a trusted CA.

.Announce all user actions and data to a public blockchain (as a merkle root hash), to ensure the consistency of our data, make censorship attempts detectable, and prevent forking (where the server shows different information to different users).

.Announce new client-side code releases to a public blockchain (with the Git commit hash and a merkle root of the compiled client-side assets), allowing users to ensure they're running the same release published on our GitHub repository.

.Provide a browser extension that verifies the integrity of the assets returned from our web servers.

.Encrypt user data end-to-end whenever possible.

.Make the client-side environment resistant to active server-side attacks by verifying everything and trusting nothing.

P2pcryptotrade brand is authorized and regulated in various jurisdictions.

P2pcryptotrade Limited (www.p2pcryptotrade.online) is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission with CIF license number 185/12, licensed by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) of South Africa, with FSP No. 46614. The company is also registered with the Financial Conduct Authority of the UK with number 600475.

P2pcryptotrade UK Limited (www.p2pcryptotrade.online) is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority with license number 777911.

Exinity Limited (www.p2pcryptotrade.online) is regulated by the Financial Services Commission of the Republic of Mauritius with an Investment Dealer License bearing license number C113012295.

Card transactions are processed via FT Global Services Ltd, Reg No. HE 335426 and registered address at Ioannis Stylianou, 6, Floor 2, Flat 202 2003, Nicosia, Cyprus. Address for cardholder correspondence: support@p2pcryptotrade.online. Business location address: P2pcryptotrade Tower, 35 Lamprou Konstantara, Kato Polemidia, 4156, Limassol, Cyprus.

Exinity Limited is a member of Financial Commission, an international organization engaged in a resolution of disputes within the financial services industry in the Forex market.

Risk Warning: Trading Forex and Leveraged Financial Instruments involves significant risk and can result in the loss of your invested capital. You should not invest more than you can afford to lose and should ensure that you fully understand the risks involved. Trading leveraged products may not be suitable for all investors. Trading non-leveraged products such as stocks also involves risk as the value of a stock can fall as well as rise, which could mean getting back less than you originally put in. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Before trading, please take into consideration your level of experience, investment objectives and seek independent financial advice if necessary. It is the responsibility of the Client to ascertain whether he/she is permitted to use the services of the P2pcryptotrade brand based on the legal requirements in his/her country of residence. Please read P2pcryptotrade's full Risk Disclosure.

Regional restrictions: P2pcryptotrade brand does not provide services to residents of the USA, Mauritius, Japan, Canada, Haiti, Suriname, the Democratic Republic of Korea, Puerto Rico, the Occupied Area of Cyprus and Hong Kong. Find out more in the Regulations section of our FAQs. © 2011 - P2pcryptotrade