Content-addressable, peer-to-peer hypermedia distribution protocol
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IPFS can among others replace the location based hypermedia server protocols http and https to distribute the World Wide Web.[4][5][6]
Design
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IPFS allows users to host and receive content in a manner similar to BitTorrent. As opposed to a centrally located server, IPFS is built around a decentralized system[7] of user-operators who hold a portion of the overall data, creating a resilient system of file storage and sharing. Any user in the network can serve a file by its content address, and other peers in the network can find and request that content from any node who has it using a distributed hash table (DHT).
In contrast to BitTorrent, IPFS aims to create a single global network. This means that if two users publish a block of data with the same hash, the peers downloading the content from "user 1" will also exchange data with the ones downloading it from "user 2".[8] IPFS aims to replace protocols used for static webpage delivery by using gateways which are accessible with HTTP.[9] Users may choose not to install an IPFS client on their device and instead use a public gateway. A list of these gateways is maintained on the IPFS GitHub page.[10]
History
IPFS was created by Juan Benet, who later founded Protocol Labs in May 2014.[4][11]
IPFS was launched in an alpha version in February 2015, and by October of the same year was described by TechCrunch as "quickly spreading by word of mouth."[1]
To develop IPFS, in 2017 Protocol Labs launched its own cryptocurrency named Filecoin. The first issue was for $257 million. The token sale took place on the Coinlist platform, which was founded by Protocol Labs together with AngelList. As the developers noted at the time, the goal of Filecoin was to create economic incentives for IPAD users using cryptocurrency.[12]
Network service provider Cloudflare started using IPFS in 2018 and launched its own gateway in the system in 2022.
In March 2020, the Opera browser provided access to the centralized resources of the Unstoppable Domains provider by hosting content in IPFS.
At the beginning of 2021, the IPFS protocol integrated Brave.[12]
According to the statistics of the BuiltWith service, as of October 5, 2022, IPFS was used by about 6,500 sites around the world, of which just under a third are located in the United States. This list includes the decentralized Uniswap exchange, the App Radar data service for decentralized applications, and the DAO Maker platform for cryptocurrency startups.[12]
Brave uses Origin Protocol and IPFS to host its decentralized merchandise store[19] and, in 2021, added support into their browser.[20]
Opera for Android has default support for IPFS, allowing mobile users to browse ipfs:// links to access data on the IPFS network.[21]
Superhighway84 is an IPFS-based Usenet-like discussion system
Filebase is a geo-redundant IPFS Pinning Service that pins each file to the IPFS network with 3 redundant copies stored across diverse geographic locations. [22]
During the block of Wikipedia in Turkey, IPFS was used to create a mirror of Wikipedia, which allowed access to archived static Wikipedia content despite the ban.[25] The mirror has now been expanded to more languages, such as English, Ukrainian, Russian, Arabic, and Chinese. A collection of the mirrors can be viewed by using its CID at an IPFS Gateway.
Malware
Phishing attacks have also been distributed through Cloudflare's IPFS gateway since July 2018. The phishing scam HTML is stored on IPFS, and displayed via Cloudflare's gateway. The connection shows as secure via a Cloudflare SSL certificate.[26]
The IPStorm botnet, first detected in June 2019, uses IPFS so it can hide its command-and-control amongst the flow of legitimate data on the IPFS network.[27] Security researchers had worked out previously the theoretical possibility of using IPFS as a botnet command-and-control system.[28][29]
^Youtube: Stanford Seminar - "IPFS and the Permanent Web"- Juan Benet of Protocol LabsArchived 2022-08-09 at the Wayback Machine Quote: "...The InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) is a new hypermedia distribution protocol, to complement--and eventually replace--HTTP. It improves the security, performance, operation modes, and data friendliness of the Web. In particular, it yields a powerful new model, where websites and web applications are decoupled from origin servers, are distributed trustlessly through the network, and are encrypted, authenticated, and executed safely..."
^Patsakis, Constantinos; Casino, Fran (2019-06-04). "Hydras and IPFS: a decentralised playground for malware". International Journal of Information Security. 18 (6): 787–799. arXiv:1905.11880. doi:10.1007/s10207-019-00443-0. S2CID167217444.
^Macabeus, Bruno; Vinicius, Marcus; Cavalcante, João Paolo; de Souza, Cidcley Teixeira (2018-05-06). Protocolos IPFS e IPNS como meio para o controle de botnet: prova de conceito. Workshop de Segurança Cibernética em Dispositivos Conectados (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 2021-01-17. Retrieved 2021-04-27 – via SBC Open Lib.
