IPFS (InterPlanetary File System) cryptography works on three main levels:
1. Content Addressing: IPFS uses content addressing, which means that content is identified using a cryptographic hash of the content rather than a physical location. Each piece of content is assigned a unique hash which can be used to retrieve the content from the network. This ensures that the content cannot be modified or replaced without changing the hash, which would invalidate all previous references to the content.
1. Public-Key Cryptography: IPFS uses public-key cryptography for authenticating and encrypting communications between nodes. Each node has a public and private key pair, and all communications are encrypted using the recipient’s public key. This ensures that only the intended recipient can read the message.
1. Distributed Hash Tables: IPFS uses distributed hash tables (DHT) for storing and retrieving content. Each node maintains a portion of the DHT, and content is stored across the network in a decentralized manner. This ensures that even if one node goes down, the content can still be retrieved from other nodes.
Overall, IPFS cryptography provides strong security and decentralization for storing and sharing content on the network.