Requirements

Let's imagine we're building a Secure Content Management Platform. This isn't just about storing files; it's about ensuring confidentiality, integrity, and availability of sensitive data. Think of it as a highly secure vault where different departments (e.g., Legal, Finance, HR) can store and share documents, each with different access control needs and security policies. A key aspect is ensuring documents are only accessible to authorized personnel and that any modifications are auditable and potentially reversible. We also need to consider different types of security measures, such as encryption at rest, access control lists (ACLs), and versioning. The platform must be designed to prevent unauthorized access, data breaches, and accidental data loss. Further, the platform needs to support multiple types of content, including documents, images, and videos. Finally, this platform must allow content owners to be able to share the content with other platform users and external users while maintaining secure access. # Requirements ## Functional Requirements 1. **User Authentication and Authorization:** * Support user registration and login with strong password policies (e.g., minimum length, complexity, regular password changes). * Implement role-based access control (RBAC) to define different levels of permissions (e.g., Administrator, Editor, Viewer). * Users should belong to groups. Content is secured based on group permissions. * Support multi-factor authentication (MFA) for enhanced security. * Support sharing content with specific users and/or user groups, both internal and external to the platform. For external users, provide a mechanism for secure access, such as time-limited links or one-time passwords. 2. **Content Storage and Retrieval:** * Allow users to upload and store various types of content (e.g., documents, images, videos). * Implement a file system abstraction to support different storage backends (e.g., local file system, cloud storage like AWS S3, Azure Blob Storage). * Provide efficient content retrieval based on metadata (e.g., filename, creation date, author, tags). * Implement full-text search functionality. 3. **Security Features:** * Implement encryption at rest using a robust encryption algorithm (e.g., AES-256). * Enforce access control policies based on user roles and group memberships. * Implement version control to track changes to content over time and allow for rollback to previous versions. * Implement auditing and logging of all user actions (e.g., login attempts, content uploads, access attempts, modifications, deletion). * Support watermarking on documents to deter unauthorized distribution. * Prevent data loss by implementing automated backups and disaster recovery mechanisms. 4. **Content Sharing and Collaboration:** * Allow users to share content with other users or groups, with configurable permissions (e.g., read-only, edit, delete). * Support secure sharing of content with external users via time-limited access tokens or invitation links. * Implement collaborative editing features with version control to track changes made by different users. * Support adding metadata (tags, descriptions) to content for better organization and searchability. 5. **Content Deletion and Retention Policies:** * Support permanent deletion of content. * Support soft deletion of content (moving it to a trash/recycle bin). * Implement retention policies that automatically delete content after a specified period. * Ensure deleted content is securely purged and cannot be recovered. ## Non-Functional Requirements 1. **Security:** The platform must prioritize security at all levels. All data should be encrypted, access should be strictly controlled, and all actions should be auditable. 2. **Performance:** The platform should provide fast content retrieval and upload speeds, even with large files. 3. **Scalability:** The platform should be able to handle a large number of users and a large volume of content. 4. **Availability:** The platform should be highly available and resilient to failures. 5. **Maintainability:** The codebase should be well-structured, modular, and easy to maintain. 6. **Extensibility:** The platform should be designed to easily accommodate new features and storage backends. Use SOLID principles to achieve that. 7. **Thread Safety:** Ensure all operations, especially those involving shared resources like caches or metadata stores, are thread-safe. Implement appropriate locking mechanisms to prevent race conditions. 8. **Testability:** Design the system to be easily testable, with well-defined interfaces and dependencies. Utilize dependency injection to facilitate unit testing. ## Core Entities 1. **User:** Represents a user of the platform, with attributes like username, password, email, roles, and groups. 2. **Group:** Represents a group of users, with attributes like group name and list of users. Used for simplified permission management. 3. **Content:** Represents a piece of content stored on the platform, with attributes like filename, file type, size, creation date, author, metadata, and storage location. The storage location should be abstracted to support different backends. 4. **AccessControlList (ACL):** Represents the access control list for a piece of content, specifying which users or groups have what permissions (e.g., read, write, delete). 5. **Permission:** Represents a specific permission, such as read, write, or delete. 6. **StorageBackend:** An abstraction for different storage systems (e.g., local file system, AWS S3). Should be an interface with concrete implementations for each backend. 7. **EncryptionService:** An abstraction for different encryption algorithms and key management strategies. 8. **AuditLog:** Represents an audit log entry, recording user actions and system events. 9. **Version:** Represents a specific version of content, stored as a snapshot of the content at a particular point in time. 10. **RetentionPolicy**: Defines rules for automatically deleting content after a specified period. 11. **Share**: Represents a sharing relationship between a content item and a user (internal or external), with specific permissions and expiration date/time.

Design Secure Content Management platform.

Requirements

Think like an Architect

Premium Content