IPFS is a new and growing technology that underpins some of the most exciting innovations in tech since it took the stage in 2015. AXEL Go and its decentralized server structure takes full advantage of IPFS to secure your data, but how does that work? Why does AXEL Go use the IPFS protocol over something more familiar like HTTP or FTP? IPFS holds several advantages over these protocols of the past and protects our clients like nothing the internet has seen before. Join us as we take a trip into IPFS 101.
What Should You Know about IPFS?
IPFS is a distributed peer-to-peer file-sharing system that is used online to store and access anything from the most basic bit of data to personal documents and websites. It is easy to think of the InterPlanetary File System as an over-complicated, difficult-to-grasp protocol with no practical applications in the real world. This couldn’t be further from the truth. IPFS is simply the next evolution in a rapidly growing and changing internet.
In 2015, IPFS was born. At this time, a team at a company called Protocol Labs began working on a decentralized method of storing and accessing files. CEO Juan Benet and his developers worked tirelessly on the protocol, taking inspiration from other decentralized methods of sharing information, such as the BitTorrent protocol, which had been growing in popularity since 2001.
When Protocol Labs set out to develop IPFS, it initially had very little to set it apart from something like BitTorrent or similar decentralized methods of collective data storage and sharing. With time, however, IPFS set itself apart from the file sharing protocols it took inspiration from by aiming to create a decentralized global network.
How IPFS Works
IPFS is a set of rules that govern how data is shared and stored across a set of servers. A server, as defined by the IPFS protocol, can be something as complex as a server warehouse or as humble as a smartphone. What matters most to the IPFS framework is the ability to house a fragment of data for later retrieval. How does this basic framework scale up to create the framework for a distributed internet? How does IPFS differ from your standard internet protocol
The internet, as we currently understand it uses the familiar HTTP protocol. This is, at its core, a method of storing and distributing data to users, similar to how IPFS works. When a client wants to access a site or the data held on a single server, their machine sends a request, and the server on the other end replies by granting or denying access to the data requested. This method has been acceptable enough for the early days of the internet. Still, as the technology available to the layperson has grown in sheer power and accessibility, HTTP has shown its age in recent years.
Decentralization
A single server acting as a digital air traffic controller creates a great many shortfalls. The massive point of failure is most glaringly sitting right in the middle of this model. If a centralized server goes offline, be that through nefarious or benign methods, clients all over the planet will be denied access. Bad actors will take advantage of this fact when executing DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attacks or regular infiltration attacks. When a single server is in charge of crucial data, it necessarily becomes a gleaming target for bad actors.
By taking advantage of a distributed structure, IPFS becomes exponentially more stable and secure. IPFS stores the information on multiple servers, or nodes, all around the world. This distribution increases stability by creating numerous points of access that can act as backups no matter the state of a single node. Decentralizing data in this way makes it practically impossible for bad actors to fall back on their old tricks. DDoS attacks simply will not find a foothold on a distributed internet, and grabbing ahold of the data in a single IPFS node will not give hackers enough information to decrypt.
IPFS is an internet protocol that strives for more than simply reinventing the wheel. Its structure acts as a protective layer for clients online and the internet at large.
The Benefits of IPFS
Beyond additional security and a significant boost to privacy, IPFS mainly sets out to do precisely what the internet does in its current state. To the average user, it may seem like nothing has changed on the surface. Still, their essential experience and expectation of the future will fundamentally change the more we as a digital community can fold IPFS into our lives.
IPFS promises to put more control into the hands of the people. In Turkey, for example, Wikipedia was blocked across the country. With the help of IPFS and decentralized storage, the people of Turkey could visit a fully-featured archive of Wikipedia’s entire wealth of knowledge. This marvel of community was made possible by IPFS and the inherent benefits of a decentralized server structure.
By creating spaces on the internet that can not be removed by knocking over a single server, millions of users can gain access to data that would otherwise fall victim to privacy overreach. Decentralized structures make it impossible to wrangle all of an entity’s data in a single place, making IPFS nodes safe to store private information. Comparing centralized servers to IPFS node structure shows us the clear advantage that IPFS has when it comes to protecting privileged information from bad actors and any interested parties for which they may be gathering this data.
Why AXEL Go Uses IPFS
AXEL Go is a decentralized storage and security service that believes in privacy above all else. AXEL Go rides the cutting–edge of technology by employing several of the most exciting innovations in computer science and data transfer protocols.
For AXEL, the InterPlanetary File System represents the next step in privacy and security online. AXEL Go uses end-to-end encryption to protect and obscure data when in transit to clients and from the decentralized nodes that make up its server structure. However, the distributed nature of these nodes provides a sizable bulk of the security and privacy once data is sitting safely on these servers.
IPFS gives AXEL the freedom to protect our clients as fiercely as possible without compromising our customers’ privacy and autonomy. The decentralized nature of our server structure means that AXEL has no control over the data our customers store on our nodes. IPFS also gives our customers peace of mind in the form of robust data backups and drastically reduced chances of server failure. The sort of centralized blackouts that would bring a service like Dropbox or Google Drive to its knees would need to happen dozens of times over before AXEL Go would feel a similar effect.
IPFS is the server structure of the future, and AXEL is happy to take advantage of this rapidly growing technology’s security, privacy, and reliability. Together with our end-to-end encryption, secure fetch, and password-protected file-sharing sessions, AXEL Go is bringing privacy and security to the workplace one file-share at a time.
Try AXEL Go Today
AXEL Go is an incredibly versatile tool in the fight for cyber security. Implementing our decentralized, encrypted storage into a workplace will create a robust bulwark between sensitive workplace data and any clever exploits hackers can slip through the cracks.
AXEL Go is a file storage and sharing service designed to revolutionize how we think about security online. Our user experience design is focused on handing top-of-the-line security to any business of any size. Our AES-256 bit encryption and decentralized server structure thwart cyber attacks on big businesses as competently as it protects local operations. No matter how tight the budget for your practice may be, we are the perfect fit for secure, intuitive storage file sharing. You can try AXEL Go premium for free for 14 days. See what security backed by our $10,000 guarantee can do for your business.