Zero-Knowledge Statement - Nygma
Last Updated: October 13, 2026
This statement explains what Nygma encrypts on your device, what Genie9 LTD (“Genie9”, “we”, “us”) can and cannot see, and the limits you should know about. In Nygma, “zero-knowledge” means that the contents of your drives and chats are encrypted on your device with keys we do not have, so we cannot read them. It does not mean we know nothing about you: section 4 lists what we can see.
1. What Zero-Knowledge Means in Nygma
- • Encryption and decryption happen on your device.
- • Your drive passwords, PINs, recovery phrases and share-link passwords are never sent to us.
- • We do not have the keys that decrypt your files or your chats, and we cannot reset a drive password.
2. What Is Encrypted on Your Device
2.1 Your Drives
Before anything leaves your device, Nygma encrypts:
- • the contents of your files;
- • the names of your files and folders;
- • thumbnails and previews; and
- • file details (metadata), such as the file type.
2.2 How
- • Encryption uses AES-256-GCM (all plans) or ChaCha20-Poly1305 (Professional plan and above).
- • Each drive has its own drive password. Your device turns it into the drive’s master key with PBKDF2-SHA256 (100,000 iterations).
- • In the current format, each part of each file — contents, name, details and each thumbnail — is encrypted with its own key, derived with HKDF-SHA256, and its own random nonce.
- • Our server stores only a verifier derived one way from the master key, so it can check your drive password without being able to decrypt anything.
2.3 Share Links
When you share items with a link, your device encrypts them for that link. The link password never reaches us.
3. Nygma Chat
3.1 End-to-End Encrypted
- • Messages, photos, videos, files, voice messages and locations are encrypted on your phone and can be decrypted only on the phone of the person you are chatting with. The keys never leave your phones.
- • Chat is invite-only: you chat only with people you invite, or who invite you, by QR code or one-time link. There is no directory, search or random matching.
- • Notifications carry no content. They say only “New activity”.
- • A copy of your chat list is kept, encrypted, in a hidden drive in your account. It can be opened only with your 24-word chat recovery phrase.
3.2 What Our Servers See
- • Delivery information only: random mailbox identifiers, the time messages arrive and their size (every message is padded to the same size), your device’s push token, and a daily count of the chats and invitations your account creates.
- • Encrypted messages and attachments wait on our servers until they are delivered, for no more than 30 days.
- • Our database does not link your account to your chat mailboxes, and we do not keep a list of who you chat with.
- • Like every request to Nygma, chat requests reach our servers with your IP address.
- • We cannot read your chats and we do not scan them. If you use Report a problem, we see only what you choose to send us.
4. What We Can See
These are readable on our servers:
- • Your account: your email address and name, how you sign in, whether two-factor authentication is on, and your plan, subscription and billing records.
- • Drive names: the name you give a drive is stored readable. Do not put anything sensitive in a drive name.
- • Sizes, counts and times: the size of each file and folder, how many there are, when they were uploaded or changed, and how items are arranged in folders (which item is in which folder, but not their names). We also see whether an item is in Trash or marked as a favourite.
- • Drive settings: for example whether a drive has a PIN, a recovery phrase, Time Bomb or Duress mode, and which drive is your Duress mode decoy.
- • Activity records: for example when a drive is unlocked (including with a duress password) and when files are added, moved or deleted, with the IP address and device details.
- • Server logs: IP addresses, browser or device details and times.
- • Share links: that a link exists, when it expires and how many times it has been opened.
- • Chat delivery information: as described in section 3.2.
- • Anything you send us yourself, such as support emails or abuse reports.
5. What We Cannot See
Subject to the limits in section 7, we cannot see:
- • the contents of your files;
- • the names of your files and folders;
- • your thumbnails and previews, or your file details (metadata);
- • your drive passwords, PINs, recovery phrases or share-link passwords; or
- • your chat messages, photos, videos, files, voice messages, shared locations, or the names you and your contacts show each other.
We cannot search or scan the contents of your drives or your chats.
6. What This Means for You
- • We cannot reset your drive password or recover your files. If you lose both your drive password and your recovery phrase, your data is gone for good.
- • We cannot hand the contents of your files or chats to anyone, including the authorities. We can produce only the information in section 4. Our Transparency Report explains how we handle requests.
- • You are responsible for keeping your drive passwords, PINs, recovery phrases and devices safe.
7. Limits You Should Know About
7.1 Files Uploaded Before Nygma 1.0
Files uploaded before Nygma 1.0 use our first encryption format. Their contents stay encrypted, but that format gives their names and thumbnails weaker protection than the current one. Files uploaded since Nygma 1.0 use the current format. To move an older file to the current format, download it, upload it again, then delete the old copy and empty it from Trash.
7.2 PINs
A PIN is a convenience. It has only six digits, and to make it work a copy of the drive’s keys is kept on our servers, protected by the PIN and by a key on our servers. A drive without a PIN is protected by its password alone, which is the strongest option.
7.3 Duress Mode
Duress mode is designed for the moment someone forces you to open Nygma on your device. It is not designed to hide the decoy from Genie9: our systems know which drive is the decoy and when it is used.
7.4 Weak Passwords
Our server keeps a verifier for each drive password and each share-link password. Like any password check, it can be attacked by guessing if the password is weak. For ChaCha20 drives created before Nygma 1.0, a guess can be checked more cheaply. Use long, unique passwords.
7.5 Your Devices
Encryption cannot protect data on a device that has malware, has been compromised, or is used by someone else while a drive or chat is open. If you keep offline copies on your phone, their safety also depends on your phone’s security.
8. Contact Information
Questions about how Nygma encrypts your data:
Email: support@genie9.com
Privacy and data protection:
Email: privacy@genie9.com or dpo@genie9.com
Legal:
Email: legal@genie9.com
Mailing Address:
Genie9 LTD
3 Shortlands
London W6 8DA
United Kingdom
This Zero-Knowledge Statement was last updated on October 13, 2026. It describes how Nygma works on that date. We may update it from time to time; the date above shows the current version.