The Lakrion Dormant Architecture (LDA) is a security architecture for secure messaging applications that keeps high-risk subsystems — such as voice calling, media processing, and other complex features — completely dormant during normal operation. Unlike conventional approaches where features are merely "disabled" in the user interface while code remains loaded and reachable, LDA ensures that dormant subsystems are not loaded into memory, expose no network listeners, and contribute no attack surface from the subsystem itself. LDA introduces four core design principles: (1) True Dormancy: Subsystem code is not linked, not loaded, and not reachable until explicitly activated, removing the always-loaded attack surface of the subsystem itself. (2) Mutual Consent Activation: Neither party can unilaterally cause code to load on the other party's device; explicit agreement from both users is required before activation. (3) Time-Bounded Operation: Active sessions operate under a mandatory time limit (typically 5–30 minutes), after which the subsystem automatically deactivates, erases ephemeral cryptographic material, and returns to a dormant state. (4) Generalized Dormancy: The same pattern can be applied to other high-risk features beyond voice calls, including link previews, file previews, location sharing, and similar attack surfaces. LDA is designed to mitigate classes of zero-click exploits — such as those used by Pegasus-style surveillance tools — that rely on always-reachable code paths in messaging applications. LDA significantly reduces, but does not eliminate, all attack surface: the main application, the activation handler, and the encrypted messaging layer necessarily remain active. This document describes a conceptual architecture and design specification rather than a concrete implementation. It is published under CC BY 4.0, and implementations are encouraged with attribution to the original author.
Nikolas Patso (Sat,) studied this question.