Question 1

Does Privatta store files on a server?

Accepted Answer

No. Files transfer directly from the sender's machine to the recipient's. There is no central server, no cloud storage and no relay holding your data — the only copy in transit is the encrypted stream between the two devices.

Question 2

What encryption does Privatta use?

Accepted Answer

Transport is secured by the Noise Protocol over libp2p: an ephemeral X25519 key exchange, ChaCha20-Poly1305 authenticated encryption, and an Ed25519 signature that verifies the peer's identity. Sessions have forward secrecy, and account passwords are stored only as scrypt hashes.

Question 3

Can it work on a LAN or fully air-gapped network?

Accepted Answer

Yes. On a local network Privatta discovers other machines automatically and transfers directly between them, with no internet required. It runs on a completely air-gapped LAN with no outbound calls, and you can pre-authorise VPN address ranges as trusted.

Question 4

How does Privatta authenticate the machines that connect?

Accepted Answer

By credentials plus machine identity. Over the internet (P2P), a request must present a valid username and password and come from a machine whose Ed25519 Peer ID is whitelisted for that account; on the LAN, the machine's MAC address is checked. Leaked credentials alone can't connect from an unregistered device.

Question 5

Who can access a given file?

Accepted Answer

You choose per file: public (anyone on your LAN), specific users, or whole user groups. Files can also be bundled into virtual folders that share one policy. Over the internet every request is fully authenticated — there is no anonymous access.

Question 6

Is there an audit trail?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Privatta keeps a local access log of every attempt — the user, machine identity, IP, file, whether it was allowed or denied, and the reason. Passwords are never written to it. Failed logins are rate-limited and abusive peers are automatically banned for the session.

Question 7

What platforms does Privatta run on?

Accepted Answer

The desktop app ships for Windows and macOS. An Android companion app lets you discover machines on your network and browse and download shared files with the same access rules; an iOS app is in development.

Question 8

Is Privatta suitable for HIPAA- or GDPR-sensitive files?

Accepted Answer

By architecture, yes. Because transfers are end-to-end encrypted and go directly between your machines with no cloud intermediary, there is no third-party data processor and no copy of your files leaving your control. You keep a full local audit trail.

Question 9

What's the difference between Free, Pro and Enterprise?

Accepted Answer

Free shares public files on your local network with a daily transfer cap. Pro adds private per-user sharing, machine whitelisting, internet (P2P) transfers, unlimited volume and the access log. Enterprise adds user groups, per-group permissions and virtual folders for organisation-scale control.

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