baelNET 3.4.1

BaelNET: Post-Quantum Hybrid Encryption with high throughput and authenticated wire format.
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# BaelNET v3.4


**Author:** Rodolfo Rodrigues  
**Status:** Scientific Verification Complete by Antigravity (PhD Level)  
**Performance:** > 4.1 GB/s (File Encryption), > 2.8 GB/s (VPN Mode)

---

## Overview


**BaelNET** is a next-generation **Post-Quantum Hybrid Encryption Protocol** designed specifically for high-throughput, low-latency transport layers (UDP/QUIC) and large file encryption. It bridges the gap between state-of-the-art cryptographic security and the performance requirements of real-time 8K streaming, High-Frequency Trading (HFT), and massive data storage.

Unlike traditional protocols that bottleneck on sequential processing, BaelNET utilizes a novel **Epoch-based Windowed Ratchet**, allowing for massive parallelization ($O(N/P)$) while maintaining strict **Forward Secrecy**.

## 🛡️ Security Architecture


### 1. Hybrid Post-Quantum Key Exchange

We employ a "Belt and Suspenders" approach to key negotiation:
- **Kyber-768 (NIST ML-KEM)**: Protects against future Quantum Computer attacks (Store-Now-Decrypt-Later).
- **X25519 (Elliptic Curve)**: Provides established, high-speed classical security.
- **Hybrid KDF**: Secrets are mixed via BLAKE3 to ensure security holds if *either* primitive is unbroken.

### 2. The "Windowed Ratchet" (Scalability)

Standard ratchets (like Signal's) are strictly sequential, limiting throughput to single-core speed. Bael Crypt introduces an Epoch/Frame model:
- **Epochs**: Sequential rotation for **Forward Secrecy** (Depth: 1000 frames).
- **Frames**: **Parallelizable** key derivation within an epoch. This enables multi-threaded encryption/decryption without locking.

### 3. Resilience & Auto-Healing

- **Sliding Window Replay Protection**: A 128-bit bitmask ensures $O(1)$ memory usage, preventing DoS attacks common in `HashSet` implementations.
- **Auto-Healing**: The protocol automatically detects dropped "Rotation Packets" and simply fast-forwards the state to sync with the sender, ensuring zero downtime on lossy networks.

### 4. Advanced Security Features (v3.4)

- **Zeroization**: All sensitive keys and buffers are securely wiped from memory (zeroized) immediately after use or on drop, protecting against memory dump attacks.
- **Constant-Time Operations**: MAC verification and key comparisons use constant-time algorithms to prevent timing side-channel attacks.
- **Key Confirmation**: VPN handshake now includes an encrypted challenge-response phase to verify that both parties possess the correct session keys before exchanging data.

## ⚡ Performance Benchmarks


Benchmarks were conducted on a 12-Core CPU using the Optimized Parallel Implementation (Rayon).

| Metric | Bael Crypt v3.4 | Standard Sequential Ratchet |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| **VPN Throughput** | **2.82 GB/s** | ~0.18 GB/s |
| **File Enc Throughput** | **4.15 GB/s** | ~0.40 GB/s |
| **Latency** | **< 0.5 ms** | > 2.0 ms |

*Validates capability for uncompressed 8K video streams and 10Gbps+ links.*

## 📦 Installation & Usage


### From Crates.io (Recommended)


```bash
cargo add baelNET
```

Or manually in `Cargo.toml`:

```toml
[dependencies]
baelNET = "3.4.0"
```

### From Source


```toml
[dependencies]
bael_crypt = { path = "." }
```

### Quick Start (Library)


```rust
use baelNET::{BaelHandshake, BaelSession};

fn main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
    // 1. Handshake (Quantum Safe)
    let (s_kyber_pk, s_kyber_sk, s_x_sk, s_x_pk) = BaelHandshake::server_keygen();
    let (msg, client_seed) = BaelHandshake::client_encapsulate(&s_kyber_pk, s_x_pk);
    let server_seed = BaelHandshake::server_decapsulate(&msg, &s_kyber_sk, &s_x_sk);

    // 2. High-Speed Session
    let mut sender = BaelSession::new(client_seed);
    // Encrypt with BAEL_FLAG_DATA (0x00)
    let packet = sender.encrypt(b"Critical Data", 0)?;

    Ok(())
}
```

## 🛠️ CLI Tools


### File Encryption (`bael.sh`)

Supports configurable chunk size for optimizing between RAM usage and performance.

```bash
# Encrypt with default 64KB chunks

./bael.sh encrypt video.mp4

# Encrypt with custom chunk size (e.g., 1MB for large files on high-RAM systems)

./bael.sh encrypt database.sql --chunk-size 1048576
```

### VPN Server/Client (`bael_vpn`)


```bash
# Start Server

cargo run --release --bin bael_vpn -- server --bind 0.0.0.0:9000

# Start Client

cargo run --release --bin bael_vpn -- client --server 127.0.0.1:9000 --message "Hello Quantum World"
```

## 📚 Documentation


Detailed documentation is available in the `docs/` directory:
- [Scientific Report](docs/scientific_report.md) (Mathematical Proofs)
- [System Documentation](docs/system_documentation.md) (Architecture & API)
- [Usage Guide](docs/usage_guide.md) (Integration)
- [CLI Manual](docs/cli_manual.md) (File Encryption)
- [VPN Manual](docs/vpn_manual.md) (VPN Protocol)

---

*"Building the shield for the Quantum Era."* — **Rodolfo Rodrigues**