<titledata-rh="true">Security Features | Waku Documentation</title><metadata-rh="true"name="viewport"content="width=device-width,initial-scale=1"><metadata-rh="true"name="twitter:card"content="summary_large_image"><metadata-rh="true"property="og:url"content="https://docs.waku.org/learn/security-features"><metadata-rh="true"property="og:locale"content="en_GB"><metadata-rh="true"name="docusaurus_locale"content="en-GB"><metadata-rh="true"name="docsearch:language"content="en-GB"><metadata-rh="true"name="keywords"content="waku, web3"><metadata-rh="true"name="image"content="https://docs.waku.org/_og/a81037ca1d330b0a5fc0e436222129078f088aa4.png"><metadata-rh="true"name="docusaurus_version"content="current"><metadata-rh="true"name="docusaurus_tag"content="docs-default-current"><metadata-rh="true"name="docsearch:version"content="current"><metadata-rh="true"name="docsearch:docusaurus_tag"content="docs-default-current"><metadata-rh="true"property="og:title"content="Security Features | Waku Documentation"><metadata-rh="true"name="description"content="Waku's protocol layers offer different services and security considerations, shaping the overall security of Waku. We document the security models in the RFCs of the protocols, aiming to provide transparent and open-source references. This empowers Waku users to understand each protocol's security guarantees and limitations."><metadata-rh="true"property="og:description"content="Waku's protocol layers offer different services and security considerations, shaping the overall security of Waku. We document the security models in the RFCs of the protocols, aiming to provide transparent and open-source references. This empowers Waku users to understand each protocol's security guarantees and limitations."><linkdata-rh="true"rel="icon"href="/theme/image/favicon.ico"><linkdata-rh="true"rel="canonical"href="https://docs.waku.org/learn/security-features"><linkdata-rh="true"rel="alternate"href="https://docs.waku.org/learn/security-features"hreflang="en-GB"><linkdata-rh="true"rel="alternate"href="https://docs.waku.org/learn/security-features"hreflang="x-default"><linkrel="alternate icon"type="image/png"href="/theme/image/favicon.png">
<p>Some of Waku's security features include the following:</p>
<h2class="anchor anchorWithHideOnScrollNavbar_WYt5"id="pseudonymity"><ahref="https://rfc.vac.dev/waku/standards/core/10/waku2/#pseudonymity"target="_blank"rel="noopener noreferrer">Pseudonymity</a><ahref="#pseudonymity"class="hash-link"aria-label="Direct link to pseudonymity"title="Direct link to pseudonymity"></a></h2>
<p>Waku ensures pseudonymity across its protocol layers, using libp2p <code>PeerID</code> as identifiers instead of disclosing true identities. However, it is important to note that pseudonymity does not provide complete anonymity. Actions performed under the same pseudonym (<code>PeerID</code>) can be linked, leading to the potential re-identification of the actual actor.</p>
<h2class="anchor anchorWithHideOnScrollNavbar_WYt5"id="anonymityunlinkability"><ahref="https://rfc.vac.dev/waku/standards/core/10/waku2/#anonymity--unlinkability"target="_blank"rel="noopener noreferrer">Anonymity/unlinkability</a><ahref="#anonymityunlinkability"class="hash-link"aria-label="Direct link to anonymityunlinkability"title="Direct link to anonymityunlinkability"></a></h2>
<p>Anonymity means an adversary cannot connect an actor to their actions or data. To achieve anonymity, avoiding linking activities with actors or their Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is crucial. In Waku, the following anonymity features are provided:</p>
<ul>
<li><ahref="https://rfc.vac.dev/waku/standards/core/11/relay/#security-analysis"target="_blank"rel="noopener noreferrer">Publisher-message unlinkability</a>: Ensures that the publisher of messages in the <code>Relay</code> protocol cannot be linked to their published messages.</li>
<li><ahref="https://rfc.vac.dev/waku/standards/core/11/relay/#security-analysis"target="_blank"rel="noopener noreferrer">Subscriber-topic unlinkability</a>: Ensures that the subscriber of topics in the <code>Relay</code> protocol cannot be linked to the topics they have subscribed to.</li>
</ul>
<h2class="anchor anchorWithHideOnScrollNavbar_WYt5"id="spam-protection"><ahref="https://rfc.vac.dev/waku/standards/core/10/waku2/#spam-protection"target="_blank"rel="noopener noreferrer">Spam protection</a><ahref="#spam-protection"class="hash-link"aria-label="Direct link to spam-protection"title="Direct link to spam-protection"></a></h2>
<p>The spam protection feature in <code>Relay</code> ensures that no adversary can flood the system with many messages, intentionally or not, regardless of the content's validity or usefulness. This protection is achieved through the <ahref="https://github.com/libp2p/specs/blob/master/pubsub/gossipsub/gossipsub-v1.1.md#spam-protection-measures"target="_blank"rel="noopener noreferrer">scoring mechanism</a> of <code>GossipSub v1.1</code>. Peers assign scores to their connections based on their behaviour and remove peers with low scores.</p>
<p>Ongoing research is being conducted, including developing <ahref="/learn/concepts/protocols#rln-relay">Rate Limit Nullifiers (RLN)</a>, which can be explored further at: <ahref="https://github.com/vacp2p/research/issues/148"target="_blank"rel="noopener noreferrer">https://github.com/vacp2p/research/issues/148</a>.</p>
<h2class="anchor anchorWithHideOnScrollNavbar_WYt5"id="data-confidentiality-integrity-and-authenticity"><ahref="https://rfc.vac.dev/waku/standards/core/10/waku2/#data-confidentiality-integrity-and-authenticity"target="_blank"rel="noopener noreferrer">Data confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity</a><ahref="#data-confidentiality-integrity-and-authenticity"class="hash-link"aria-label="Direct link to data-confidentiality-integrity-and-authenticity"title="Direct link to data-confidentiality-integrity-and-authenticity"></a></h2>
<p>Confidentiality in Waku is ensured through data encryption, while integrity and authenticity are achieved through digital signatures. These security measures are available in <ahref="https://rfc.vac.dev/waku/standards/core/14/message/#version-1"target="_blank"rel="noopener noreferrer">Waku Message (version 1)</a> and Noise protocols, which offer payload encryption and encrypted signatures. Noise protocols also facilitate secure channel negotiation within the Waku Network.</p>
<h2class="anchor anchorWithHideOnScrollNavbar_WYt5"id="security-considerations"><ahref="https://rfc.vac.dev/waku/standards/core/10/waku2/#security-considerations"target="_blank"rel="noopener noreferrer">Security considerations</a><ahref="#security-considerations"class="hash-link"aria-label="Direct link to security-considerations"title="Direct link to security-considerations"></a></h2>
<p>In protocols like <code>Store</code> and <code>Filter</code>, where direct connections are required for the designated service, anonymity or unlinkability is not guaranteed. This is because nodes use their <code>PeerID</code> to identify each other during direct connections, making the service obtained in these protocols linkable to the beneficiary's <code>PeerID</code>, considered Personally Identifiable Information (PII). In <code>Store</code>, the queried node can link the querying node's <code>PeerID</code> to the topics being queried. Similarly, in <code>Filter</code>, a node can link the <code>PeerID</code> of a light node to its content filter.</p></div><footerclass="theme-doc-footer docusaurus-mt-lg"><divclass="row margin-top--sm theme-doc-footer-edit-meta-row"><divclass="col"><ahref="https://github.com/waku-org/docs.waku.org/tree/develop/docs/learn/security-features.md"target="_blank"rel="noreferrer noopener"class="theme-edit-this-page"><divclass="icon_S7Kx m_thRi"><svgxmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"width="16"height="16"fill="none"viewBox="0 0 16 16"><pathfill="#fff"fill-rule="evenodd"d="m12.707 2.393.9.9c.526.52.526 1.367 0 1.887L4.787 14H2v-2.787l6.933-6.94 1.887-1.88c.52-.52 1.367-.52 1.887 0M3.333 12.667l.94.04 6.547-6.554-.94-.94-6.547 6.547z"clip-rule="evenodd"></path></svg></div><spanclass="lsd-typography lsd-typography--body2">Edit this page</span></a></div><divclass="col lastUpdated_JAkA"></div></div></footer></article><navclass="docusaurus-mt-lg pagination-nav"aria-label="Docs pages"><aclass="pagination-nav__link pagination-nav__link--prev"href="/learn/concepts/peer-exchange"><divclass="icon_S7Kx m_thRi"><svgxmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"width="14"height="14"fill="none"viewBox="0 0 14 14"><pathfill="#fff"d="M11.667 6.417h-7.1L7.83 3.156 7 2.333 2.334 7 7 11.667l.823-.823-3.255-3.26h7.099z"></path></svg></div><spanclass="lsd-typography lsd-typography--body2 pagination-nav__label">Peer Exchange</span></a><aclass="pagination-nav__link pagination-nav__link--next"href="/learn/research/"><spanclass="lsd-typography lsd-typography--body2 pagination-nav__label">Research</span><divclass="icon_S7Kx m_thRi"><svgxmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"width="14"height="14"fill="none"viewBox="0 0 14 14"><pathfill="#fff"d="m7 2.334-.823.822 3.255 3.26H2.333v1.167h7.1l-3.256 3.261.823.823L11.667 7z"></path></svg></div></a></nav></div></div><divclass="gap1_XuuQ"></div></div></div></main></div></div></div><footerclass="footer"><divclass="container container-fluid firstRow_ar1q"><divclass="footer__bottom text--center"><divclass="margin-bottom--sm"><aclass="footerLogoLink_BH7S"href="/"><imgsrc="/theme/image/logo.svg"alt="Waku"class="themedImage_kfRS themedImage--light_BL8e footer__logo"width="22"><imgsrc="/theme/image/logo.svg"alt="Waku"class="themedImage_kfRS themedImage--dark_OvIx footer__logo"width="22"></a></div><divclass="footer__copyright">Waku</div></div><divclass="row footer__links"><divclass="theme-layout-footer-column col footer__col"><divclass="footer__title">Community</div><ulclass="footer__items clean-list"><liclass="footer__item"><ahref="https://twitter.com/waku_org/"target="_blank"rel="noopener noreferrer"class="footer__link-item">X<svgwidth="13.5"height="13.5"aria-hidden="true"class="iconExternalLink_nPIU"><usehref="#theme-svg-external-link"></use></svg></a></li><liclass="footer__item"><ahref="https://discord.waku.org/"target="_blank"rel="noopener noreferrer"class="footer__link-item">Discord<svgwidth="13.5"height="13.5"aria-hidden="true"class="iconExternalLink_nPIU"><usehref="#theme-svg-external-link"></use></svg></a></li><liclass="footer__item"><ahref="https://github.com/waku-org/"target="_blank"rel="noopener noreferrer"class="footer__link-item">GitHub<svgwidth="13.5"height="13.5"aria-hidden="true"class="iconExternalLink_nPIU"><usehref="#theme-svg-external-link"></use></svg></a></li><liclass="footer__item"><ahref="https://www.youtube.com/@wakuorg"target="_blank"rel="noopener noreferrer"class="f
