API Key Security

Modern internet systems face unprecedented security threats. AI has dramatically lowered the barrier to attack — recent real-world examples include the mass exploitation of the PHP CGI parameter injection vulnerability (CVE-2024-4577), iOS sandbox escape exploit chains being used in the wild, and the open-source AI gateway LiteLLM suffering a supply chain poisoning attack. Any system relying on traditional technology frameworks may be exposed in unexpected ways. As a platform aggregating API Keys from many vendors, Poixe takes this seriously and embeds security throughout its architecture. This page covers how the platform protects vendor API Keys, and the proactive measures you can take.

How Poixe Protects Your Keys

Poixe uses an end-to-end encryption approach: plaintext keys never reach Poixe’s business servers under any circumstances. The business server is the most externally exposed layer and the most likely attack target.

Two Submission Methods

Method 1: Vendor Dashboard (browser-side local encryption) When you paste an API Key into the vendor dashboard, the browser fetches the RSA public key from https://poixe.com/security.json, encrypts locally, and only submits the enc:v2:... ciphertext to the backend. Method 2: Management API (pre-encrypt locally) When submitting channels via the sys.poixe.com management API, the keys field must contain pre-encrypted ciphertext in enc:v2:... format. Plaintext API Keys are not accepted. Use the encryption tools below to encrypt locally first.

Decryption Environment Isolation

Encrypted ciphertext is stored by the backend without any decryption. The platform has introduced dedicated high-trust secure egress machines that operate in a physically isolated environment, decrypting channel API Keys only at the moment of making an actual upstream request. The application layer and database layer cannot access plaintext keys at all.

Automatic Channel Cleanup

Poixe also runs an active cleanup mechanism to ensure unused API Keys are not stored in the system indefinitely:

Manually disabled channels: if not re-enabled within 24 hours, the system automatically archives the channel (marks it archived), clears the sensitive Key field, and prevents recovery
System-disabled channels: channels auto-disabled due to errors are similarly archived 3 days after the disabling if not addressed

The core principle: API Keys you no longer use should not persist in any system — even encrypted storage carries residual risk.

System Management API

Poixe provides a system management API (sys.poixe.com) for vendors to programmatically manage channels, query earnings, and monitor status. Key capabilities:

Query channel list and status, detect and handle anomalous channels quickly
Retrieve vendor earnings summary (total, settled, pending)
Batch create and delete channels, supporting automated deployment
Query token usage

Full API reference: System API Reference

Our Recommendations

Set IP Allowlists on Upstream Platforms

All Poixe upstream requests originate from fixed egress IPs. Setting an IP allowlist on OpenAI, Anthropic, Azure, AWS, and other upstream platforms ensures that even if a key is leaked, attackers cannot use it from other IPs. Get the current egress IP list:

curl -s https://poixe.com/security.json | jq '.egress_ips'

Set Spending Limits on Upstream Platforms

Set a monthly spend cap or daily call limit on the upstream platform for your API Key. This caps damage in the worst case to an acceptable range. We recommend setting limits slightly above your expected actual usage on Poixe, rather than leaving them unlimited.

Monitor via API, Detect Anomalies Early

The Poixe management API provides channel consumption data (used_quota, request_count) and vendor earnings summaries. Consider setting up a scheduled task to periodically compare:

Poixe channel used_quota vs upstream billing
Vendor earnings.total_earnings vs expected earnings

If you find billing discrepancies, immediately delete the suspicious channels via the API and report to the Poixe team:

curl https://sys.poixe.com/api/channels \
  -X DELETE \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $POIXE_SYSTEM_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"ids": [<channel_id>]}'

Encryption Tools & Examples

Poixe provides the open-source encryption toolkit poixe-security, supporting CLI, Python SDK, Go SDK, and a browser-based HTML tool. The Python SDK is also published to PyPI: poixe-encrypt.

CLI

# Install: download the binary for your platform from GitHub Releases

# OpenAI
echo "sk-proj-..." | poixe encrypt -t openai_chatgpt

# Azure
echo "my-key" | poixe encrypt -t azure_chatgpt \
  --endpoint https://my-resource.openai.azure.com

# AWS Bedrock
echo "AKID..." | poixe encrypt -t aws_bedrock_claude --region us-east-1

Python SDK

pip install poixe-encrypt

from poixe_encrypt import ChannelType, encrypt

cipher = encrypt(ChannelType.OPENAI_CHATGPT, "sk-proj-...")
print(cipher)  # enc:v2:k1:...

# Azure
cipher = encrypt(ChannelType.AZURE_CHATGPT, "key",
    endpoint="https://my-resource.openai.azure.com")

More tools (Go SDK, batch encryption, offline HTML tool) at poixe-security.

View & Verify the Public Key

The RSA public key used for Poixe encryption is published through two channels: Production endpoint: https://poixe.com/security.json — returns the current public key, key ID (kid), SHA-256 fingerprint, and egress IP list in real time. GitHub mirror: github.com/poixeai/poixe-security for offline verification.

Independent Verification

Verify independently via DNS TXT record, without trusting the HTTPS chain:

dig TXT _encryption.poixe.com +short
# "v=v2; kid=k1; fp=19bb2f0101de7bb3e1ca6fea27fa06474b37de654b0191e3430b4e30f5c6e761"

Compute the fingerprint locally with openssl and compare:

# Extract PEM from security.json, save as pubkey.pem, then:
openssl pkey -pubin -in pubkey.pem -outform DER | sha256sum

Detailed verification steps: poixe-security docs.

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