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Control Drawing

A visual overview of the Nekotopia Torus security model. This complements the detail in Torus Controls.

How the Torus Protects You

                     +-----------------+
                     |    INTERNET     |
                     |   (Untrusted)   |
                     +--------+--------+
                              |
               Encrypted WireGuard Tunnels
                              |
     +----------------------------------------+
     |        NEKOTOPIA TORUS MESH             |
     |                                        |
     |   +--------------------------------+   |
     |   |        Regional Hubs           |   |
     |   |                                |   |
     |   |   London . Ohio . Frankfurt    |   |
     |   |                                |   |
     |   |   - Traffic isolation by tier  |   |
     |   |   - Per-user access controls   |   |
     |   |   - Bandwidth management       |   |
     |   |   - Connection monitoring      |   |
     |   +--------------------------------+   |
     |                                        |
     |   +---------+       +---------+        |
     |   |  You    |<---->|  Other  |        |
     |   |  (Your  |       |  Member |        |
     |   |  Site)  |       |  (Their |        |
     |   |         |       |  Site)  |        |
     |   +----+----+       +---------+        |
     +----------------------------------------+
              |
              v

Your Side - What You Control

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                        YOUR HOME NETWORK                              |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                                       |
|   +---------------------------------------------------------------+   |
|   |                  YOUR FIREWALL / ROUTER                       |   |
|   |       Choose what to share and with whom (recommended)        |   |
|   +---------------------------------------------------------------+   |
|            |                    |                    |                 |
|            v                    v                    v                 |
|   +------------------+  +------------------+  +------------------+    |
|   |  Modern PCs      |  |  Retro Gear      |  |  Shared          |    |
|   |                  |  |                  |  |  Services        |    |
|   |  - Patched OS    |  |  - SGI IRIX      |  |                  |    |
|   |  - AV current    |  |  - Classic Mac   |  |  - Web server    |    |
|   |  - Strong auth   |  |  - Amiga / Atari |  |  - File share    |    |
|   |                  |  |  - BeOS, OS/2    |  |  - Game server   |    |
|   |     [+] Good     |  |  Filter access   |  |  - BBS           |    |
|   |                  |  |     [+] Better   |  |     [+] Best     |    |
|   +------------------+  +------------------+  +------------------+    |
|                                                                       |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

What the Platform Provides

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                     TORUS PLATFORM CONTROLS                           |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                                       |
|   ENCRYPTION             ACCOUNT TIERS         MONITORING             |
|   ----------             -------------         ----------             |
|   - WireGuard tunnels    - Basic: mesh only     - Connection health   |
|     encrypt all traffic  - Plus: mesh+internet  - Peer activity       |
|   - No unencrypted data  - Pro: dedicated IP    - Bandwidth usage     |
|     crosses the internet   + public services    - Admin dashboard     |
|                                                                       |
|   REGIONAL HUBS          ACCESS CONTROL         CONNECTIVITY          |
|   -------------          --------------         ------------          |
|   - London (primary)     - Individual accounts  - Echo service at     |
|   - Ohio, US             - Invite-only signup     10.254.100.102      |
|   - Frankfurt, DE        - Admin approval       - Verify your tunnel  |
|   - More planned         - Operator oversight     is working anytime  |
|                                                                       |
|   COMING SOON                                                         |
|   -----------                                                         |
|   - Hub-side intrusion prevention                                     |
|   - Deep packet inspection (opt-in)                                   |
|   - Enhanced segmentation controls                                    |
|                                                                       |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

Best Practices

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                        WHAT WE RECOMMEND                              |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                                       |
|   1. USE A FIREWALL                                                   |
|      A small router (like MikroTik) between the Torus and your        |
|      equipment lets you choose exactly what is reachable.             |
|                                                                       |
|   2. SEPARATE YOUR NETWORKS                                          |
|      Keep retro gear on a different subnet from your personal         |
|      devices. If something goes wrong, the blast radius is contained. |
|                                                                       |
|   3. SHARE DELIBERATELY                                              |
|      Only expose the services you intend to share. A web server       |
|      is great; your entire filesystem probably isn't.                 |
|                                                                       |
|   4. CHANGE DEFAULTS                                                  |
|      Default passwords on old systems were fine in 1995. They're      |
|      not fine on a network with other people. Change them.            |
|                                                                       |
|   5. KEEP MODERN STUFF PATCHED                                        |
|      Your retro kit can't be updated, but your modern PC can.         |
|      Keep it current - it protects everything else on your LAN.       |
|                                                                       |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+