Novanet: Skytale, a Norwegian end-to-end encrypted communication platform

Novanet has written an article about its work with Skytale. Below, you can read how the team approached our assignment.

The assignment

National security and the protection of data and information have become increasingly important. Norway and its population are attractive targets for foreign actors seeking illegal access to our technology and information. Today, we depend on communication solutions that often involve foreign source code and external server storage, increasing our vulnerability to potential attacks. Skytale aims to let organisations and businesses take full control of their data and communication through a new secure, end-to-end encrypted communication platform. All development and storage for the platform will take place within Norway, unlike competing platforms. The solution can also be set up and operated wherever the customer chooses: as SaaS operated by Skytale in the cloud, or on-prem in Norwegian data centres or the customer’s own environment.

Skytale’s founders had previously had good experiences with some of Novanet’s consultants, so they contacted us to take part in planning and developing the communication platform. Novanet has expertise in designing reliable, flexible solutions from the ground up. This was crucial for Skytale, which wanted to establish a solid, scalable Minimum Viable Product (MVP) quickly to present its concept to the market.

The team

Novanet assembled a dedicated team of a tech lead and three developers with complementary skills needed to deliver the app and web application. The team worked closely with a product owner from Skytale, a UX designer from Northern Beat and security management specialists from Egde. Collaboration with our sister companies in NOVA, Northern Beat and Egde lets us deliver multidisciplinary teams.

The challenge

Skytale had a clear vision of secure voice, chat and file sharing, which formed the basis of the MVP. One of the first key requirements was compliance with strict NSM guidance and existing privacy and data security legislation. We also explored advanced encryption protocols to choose the most suitable end-to-end encryption solution for our communication platform.

The team spent time exploring different approaches and considering alternative solutions.

Original quotation in Norwegian

– Å jobbe i et prosjekt som involverer så høy grad av sikkerhet og kryptering er litt som å løse et komplekst puslespill – det krever tålmodighet og en dyp forståelse av systemene man jobber med, forteller Henning som har vært ansvarlig for appen tilhørende plattformen.

The solution

A native iOS app was built in Swift. Clients for Android and desktop are also planned and are currently being developed in .NET MAUI. The solution has several security layers, from transport security (HTTPS) to different forms of encryption for messages exchanged between users.

Platform administrators use a web interface built in Blazor. They can manage their organisation, including users and groups, and set rules for tasks such as archiving and deleting data. This control and flexibility is intended to give Skytale’s customers a significant advantage.

The app and administration portal are supported by services and APIs running in containers. This provides flexibility and scalability for future operational needs, whether customers choose cloud or on-prem. Both applications and services are secured by an IAM solution providing sign-in and access control.