Object-Capability Security with Spritely Goblins for Secure Collaboration

The object-capability security paradigm (ocaps) is a conceptually simple, efficient model for collaboration in mutually-suspicious contexts. Spritely is exploring concepts and building solutions in this space to solve real-world problems while encouraging the wider adoption of ocaps, including by working alongside other ocaps organizations and projects to define a standard protocol for intercommunication between ocaps systems. This talk will explain what ocaps is and why you should use it.

Our current model of collaboration is broken. Rather than basing our systems on granting consent, we base them on revoking authority. Ocaps inverts this model with its "if you don't have it, you can't use it" approach, facilitated by restricted means of exchanging authority. Meanwhile, the Object Capability Network protocol (OCapN) abstracts away transport mechanisms between objects while creating a security barrier with minimal overhead. Altogether, this ocaps ecosystem enables secure collaboration in mutually-suspicious contexts by emphasizing and enforcing a consent-based approach to information and authority exchange. Spritely is pioneering new tooling for ocaps with its Goblins library, which also serves as a model for other implementations; and has plans for solutions to problems like distributed storage, identity management, and even social networking.