When we set out to build NetNerve, we recognized a major problem with existing cloud-based packet analysis platforms: trust. Packet captures (PCAPs) can contain incredibly sensitive information, from proprietary API keys to internal network topologies and even plaintext user credentials.
We knew that if security professionals were going to use NetNerve, we had to offer an airtight guarantee about data privacy. The solution was simple in concept: zero persistent retention and ephemeral execution.
The Ephemeral Pipeline
Many cloud tools archive uploads to permanent cloud storage or attach them to user database records. NetNerve takes the opposite approach. When you submit a capture, it is streamed into transient memory for rapid dissection and inspection.
Any temporary files required by low-level forensic tooling (such as tshark and our sandboxed Suricata IDS) exist strictly within isolated, ephemeral process directories and are immediately unlinked and deleted in strict execution cleanup blocks the moment analysis completes.
No Database Retention
It's not just raw packet files we protect. The telemetry, extracted payload summaries, and AI-generated insights exist only in volatile memory and short-lived Redis session cache (strictly bounded by a TTL). We do not store your captures or analysis results in a permanent SQL or NoSQL database. Once your session expires or you click delete, the data is gone forever.
Server-Side Secrets Only
Additionally, we ensure that zero secrets are exposed to the client. The frontend is strictly a visualization layer. All communication with AI models, billing gateways, and our Suricata engine happens exclusively backend-to-backend. By keeping the frontend "dumb," we eliminate entire classes of client-side vulnerabilities.
The Bottom Line
Building a zero-retention platform required us to optimize memory usage heavily and build robust streaming architectures. But the tradeoff is worth it.
You can upload sensitive captures to NetNerve knowing that the moment you have your answers, the data is digitally incinerated.