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01SWE

Role-based encrypted documents with audit logs

Design notes on document encryption, access boundaries, and auditability—plus why 'blockchain' is usually the least interesting part of the system.

Jan · 261 min read50 words
🔐Story Companion // Role-Based Cryptographic Boundary
AES-256 GCM

Encrypted State: Key Required

Click the vault lock to simulate key rotation.

HASH: 0x9f4a...8b12 [VERIFIED]ACTION: ROLE_PERMISSION_CHECK [ALLOW]

My approach was role-first: define who can do what, then derive keys and storage rules from that.

Audit logs are only useful if they're queryable and explainable. I optimized for 'what happened and why' over cryptographic novelty.

The takeaway: secure systems are mostly about careful defaults and predictable recovery paths.

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