The goal of the Truffles projects was to improve the tools available for cooperative work. The first such tool addressed by Truffles was file-sharing. Since much data is stored as files, the ability to share such data flexibly and securely will greatly facilitate the performance of cooperative work. A file-sharing tool for this environment must handle some difficult problems, such as secure transport of data, limited trust between the sharing parties, failures of the communications media between partners, difficulty of setting up the shared environment, and performance issues. 

Truffles addressed these problems by marrying two existing technologies: Trusted Information Systems' (TIS) Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM) and UCLA's Ficus optimistically replicated file system. PEM allows secure, authenticated, reliable setup services. Ficus addresses issues of availability of the data and performance by keeping data local. The Truffles project extended these services and created new software to deal with some of the problems discussed previously. The Truffles code can be downloaded . 

The diagram above illustrates a Truffles system working over the Internet. Three different sets of files are being shared among four sites spread across the country. One set of files is being shared between UCLA and ISI, another between UCLA, DARPA, and TIS's Maryland office, and a third between DARPA and TIS. The systems involved in each relationship can access the files they share, but not the files shared with any other system. Thus, ISI cannot access the files UCLA shares with TIS and DARPA. 

Truffles was designed to improve portability, add new services to support cooperative work, verify the security of code, and develop an understanding of limited trust in distributed systems. 

Truffles (contract N00174-92-C-0128) and it's follow-on research effort, User-Level Truffles (contract DABT63-95-C-0008) were funded entirely by DARPA/ITO.