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Project Essence: Sentinel Vault

Sentinel Vault is a project I started to learn more about web security and how to keep user data safe. It is a simple personal data vault where users can store a single secret piece of information. The goal was not just to build a vault: but to understand the telemetry of security. I wanted to see exactly what happens when someone tries to log in: where they are coming from: and what they are doing on the server.

Why GitHub OAuth2?​

I decided to use GitHub for authentication because: as a beginner: I do not want to be responsible for storing and hashing raw passwords. Handling passwords correctly is difficult and risky. By using Passport.js and the GitHub strategy: I can let a trusted service handle the identity verification while I focus on the security of the application itself. It also means I do not have to worry about password resets or email verification.

Why SQLite?​

I chose SQLite (specifically the better-sqlite3 library) because it is simple and self-contained. It does not require a separate database server to be running: which makes it perfect for a learning project. The entire database is just a file in the project folder. This makes it very easy to inspect the tables and see how the audit logs are being stored in real-time.

General Features​

  • Secure Authentication: Powered by Passport.js and GitHub.
  • Personal Secret Vault: A dedicated space for one piece of sensitive data.
  • Robust Audit Logging: Every login: logout: and unauthorized access attempt is tracked.
  • Security Telemetry: Real-time logging of IP addresses: User Agents: and device information.
  • Clean Interface: Simple EJS templates that focus on the data.