What makes Snapchat unique from other social media platforms is all about what users can't do -- view a post more than once. After a user views a photo or video, the post "self-destructs" and can't be retrieved. The privacy protections of self-destructing information are readily evident. Adding this limitation created an exciting and low-stakes space for friends to share content.
QWERX uses the same principle of self-destructing information as the foundation of our authentication technology. Most security infrastructure relies on static credentials to authenticate devices to a network. These credentials, including keys and certificates, are complicated to manage and easy to steal. Our team wanted to solve that problem. The solution? Our ephemeral key infrastructure process, in which credentials are generated, validated, and then erased. This process is repeated continuously, multiple times per minute. The same credential is never used twice and there is nothing to manage or steal.