OpenNHP is a lightweight, cryptography-powered toolkit designed to enforce Zero Trust security for infrastructure, applications, and data, particularly in the context of AI-driven cyber threats. It aims to make the internet more trustworthy by concealing network resources and securing data, targeting infrastructure operators, security engineers, and developers.

How It Works

OpenNHP implements the Network-resource Hiding Protocol (NHP), a Zero Trust protocol operating at the OSI Session and Presentation Layers. It leverages modern cryptography, including Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) and the Noise Protocol Framework, to obfuscate server ports, IP addresses, and domain names. This approach, termed "service darkening," hides resources from unauthorized entities, granting access only after continuous verification and authentication, thereby reducing the attack surface and mitigating risks from AI-powered vulnerability exploitation.

Quick Start & Requirements

• Installation and usage details are available in the Official Documentation.
• The project is written in Go, suggesting a need for a Go development environment for building from source.
• A demo server is available at https://acdemo.opennhp.org for quick evaluation.

Highlighted Details

• NHP vs. SPA: NHP offers enhanced scalability, security, and extensibility over Single Packet Authorization (SPA) by decoupling components and utilizing modern cryptographic frameworks.
• Cryptography: Employs ECC for efficient public-key cryptography, the Noise Protocol Framework for secure key exchange and authentication, and supports Identity-Based Cryptography (IBC) and Certificateless Public Key Cryptography (CL-PKC) for simplified, decentralized key management.
• Zero Trust Architecture: Aligns with NIST standards, featuring components like NHP-Server, NHP-AC, and NHP-Agent for a modular, security-first design.
• "Dark Forest" Mitigation: Addresses the increasing threat of AI-driven autonomous vulnerability exploitation by making network services "invisible" to unauthorized scanners.

Maintenance & Community

• The project is hosted on GitHub and has a Slack channel for community interaction.
• Contributions are welcomed.

Licensing & Compatibility

• Licensed under the Apache 2.0 License.
• The Apache 2.0 license is permissive and generally compatible with commercial and closed-source applications.

Limitations & Caveats

• The project is described as "lightweight" and "cryptography-powered," but specific performance benchmarks or resource requirements for the NHP-Server, NHP-AC, and NHP-Agent components are not detailed in the README.
• While it mentions integration with existing IAM systems, the specifics of this integration are not elaborated upon.