diff --git a/config/dbstructure.config.php b/config/dbstructure.config.php
index 0be6ba402..a4728c15d 100644
--- a/config/dbstructure.config.php
+++ b/config/dbstructure.config.php
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@
 use Friendica\Database\DBA;
 
 if (!defined('DB_UPDATE_VERSION')) {
-	define('DB_UPDATE_VERSION', 1298);
+	define('DB_UPDATE_VERSION', 1299);
 }
 
 return [
@@ -99,6 +99,8 @@ return [
 			"allow_gid" => ["type" => "mediumtext", "comment" => "Access Control - list of allowed groups"],
 			"deny_cid" => ["type" => "mediumtext", "comment" => "Access Control - list of denied contact.id"],
 			"deny_gid" => ["type" => "mediumtext", "comment" => "Access Control - list of denied groups"],
+			"backend-class" => ["type" => "tinytext", "comment" => "Storage backend class"],
+			"backend-ref" => ["type" => "text", "comment" => "Storage backend data reference"],
 		],
 		"indexes" => [
 			"PRIMARY" => ["id"],
diff --git a/mod/attach.php b/mod/attach.php
deleted file mode 100644
index f3192d802..000000000
--- a/mod/attach.php
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,54 +0,0 @@
-<?php
-/**
- * @file mod/attach.php
- */
-
-use Friendica\App;
-use Friendica\Core\L10n;
-use Friendica\Database\DBA;
-use Friendica\Util\Security;
-
-function attach_init(App $a)
-{
-	if ($a->argc != 2) {
-		notice(L10n::t('Item not available.') . EOL);
-		return;
-	}
-
-	$item_id = intval($a->argv[1]);
-
-	// Check for existence, which will also provide us the owner uid
-
-	$r = DBA::selectFirst('attach', [], ['id' => $item_id]);
-	if (!DBA::isResult($r)) {
-		notice(L10n::t('Item was not found.'). EOL);
-		return;
-	}
-
-	$sql_extra = Security::getPermissionsSQLByUserId($r['uid']);
-
-	// Now we'll see if we can access the attachment
-
-	$r = q("SELECT * FROM `attach` WHERE `id` = '%d' $sql_extra LIMIT 1",
-		DBA::escape($item_id)
-	);
-
-	if (!DBA::isResult($r)) {
-		notice(L10n::t('Permission denied.') . EOL);
-		return;
-	}
-
-	// Use quotes around the filename to prevent a "multiple Content-Disposition"
-	// error in Chrome for filenames with commas in them
-	header('Content-type: ' . $r[0]['filetype']);
-	header('Content-length: ' . $r[0]['filesize']);
-	if (isset($_GET['attachment']) && $_GET['attachment'] === '0') {
-		header('Content-disposition: filename="' . $r[0]['filename'] . '"');
-	} else {
-		header('Content-disposition: attachment; filename="' . $r[0]['filename'] . '"');
-	}
-
-	echo $r[0]['data'];
-	exit();
-	// NOTREACHED
-}
diff --git a/src/Model/Attach.php b/src/Model/Attach.php
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..13b0adb6f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Model/Attach.php
@@ -0,0 +1,152 @@
+<?php
+
+/**
+ * @file src/Model/Attach.php
+ * @brief This file contains the Attach class for database interface
+ */
+namespace Friendica\Model;
+
+use Friendica\BaseObject;
+use Friendica\Core\StorageManager;
+use Friendica\Database\DBA;
+use Friendica\Database\DBStructure;
+use Friendica\Util\Security;
+
+
+/**
+ * Class to handle attach dabatase table
+ */
+class Attach extends BaseObject
+{
+
+	/**
+	 * @brief Return a list of fields that are associated with the attach table
+	 *
+	 * @return array field list
+	 */
+	private static function getFields()
+	{
+		$allfields = DBStructure::definition(false);
+		$fields = array_keys($allfields['attach']['fields']);
+		array_splice($fields, array_search('data', $fields), 1);
+		return $fields;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @brief Select rows from the attach table
+	 *
+	 * @param array  $fields     Array of selected fields, empty for all
+	 * @param array  $conditions Array of fields for conditions
+	 * @param array  $params     Array of several parameters
+	 *
+	 * @return boolean|array
+	 *
+	 * @see \Friendica\Database\DBA::select
+	 */
+	public static function select(array $fields = [], array $conditions = [], array $params = [])
+	{
+		if (empty($fields)) {
+			$selected = self::getFields();
+		}
+
+		$r = DBA::select('attach', $fields, $conditions, $params);
+		return DBA::toArray($r);
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @brief Retrieve a single record from the attach table
+	 *
+	 * @param array  $fields     Array of selected fields, empty for all
+	 * @param array  $conditions Array of fields for conditions
+	 * @param array  $params     Array of several parameters
+	 *
+	 * @return bool|array
+	 *
+	 * @see \Friendica\Database\DBA::select
+	 */
+	public static function selectFirst(array $fields = [], array $conditions = [], array $params = [])
+	{
+		if (empty($fields)) {
+			$fields = self::getFields();
+		}
+
+		return DBA::selectFirst('attach', $fields, $conditions, $params);
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @brief Check if attachment with given conditions exists
+	 *
+	 * @param array   $conditions  Array of extra conditions
+	 *
+	 * @return boolean
+	 */
+	public static function exists(array $conditions)
+	{
+		return DBA::exists('attach', $conditions);
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @brief Retrive a single record given the ID
+	 * 
+	 * @param int  $id  Row id of the record
+	 * 
+	 * @return bool|array
+	 *
+	 * @see \Friendica\Database\DBA::select
+	 */
+	public static function getById($id)
+	{
+		return self::selectFirst([], ['id' => $id]);
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @brief Retrive a single record given the ID 
+	 * 
+	 * @param int  $id  Row id of the record
+	 * 
+	 * @return bool|array
+	 *
+	 * @see \Friendica\Database\DBA::select
+	 */
+	public static function getByIdWithPermission($id)
+	{
+		$r = self::selectFirst(['uid'], ['id' => $id]);
+		if ($r === false) {
+			return false;
+		}
+
+		$sql_acl = Security::getPermissionsSQLByUserId($r['uid']);
+
+		$conditions = [
+			'`id` = ?' . $sql_acl,
+			$id
+		];
+
+		$item = self::selectFirst([], $conditions);
+
+		return $item;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @brief Get file data for given row id. null if row id does not exist
+	 * 
+	 * @param array  $item  Attachment data. Needs at least 'id', 'backend-class', 'backend-ref'
+	 * 
+	 * @return string  file data
+	 */
+	public static function getData($item)
+	{
+		if ($item['backend-class'] == '') {
+			// legacy data storage in 'data' column
+			$i = self::selectFirst(['data'], ['id' => $item['id']]);
+			if ($i === false) {
+				return null;
+			}
+			return $i['data'];
+		} else {
+			$backendClass = $item['backend-class'];
+			$backendRef = $item['backend-ref'];
+			return $backendClass::get($backendRef);
+		}
+	}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/Module/Attach.php b/src/Module/Attach.php
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..eed1275c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Module/Attach.php
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * @file src/Module/Attach.php
+ */
+
+
+namespace Friendica\Module;
+
+use Friendica\BaseModule;
+use Friendica\Core\L10n;
+use Friendica\Core\System;
+use Friendica\Core\Logger;
+use Friendica\Model\Attach as MAttach;
+
+/**
+ * @brief Attach Module
+ */
+class Attach extends BaseModule
+{
+	/**
+	 * @brief Module initializer
+	 *
+	 * Fetch an attached file given the id
+	 */
+	public static function init()
+	{
+		$a = self::getApp();
+		if ($a->argc != 2) {
+			System::httpExit(400); // Bad Request.
+		}
+	
+
+		$item_id = intval($a->argv[1]);
+		
+		// Check for existence
+		$item = MAttach::exists(['id' => $item_id]);
+		if ($item === false) {
+			System::httpExit(404, ['description' => L10n::t('Item was not found.')]);
+		}
+
+		// Now we'll fetch the item, if we have enough permisson
+		$item = MAttach::getByIdWithPermission($item_id);
+		if ($item === false) {
+			System::httpExit(403, ['description' => L10n::t('Permission denied.')]);
+		}
+
+		$data = MAttach::getData($item);
+		if (is_null($data)) {
+			Logger::log('NULL data for attachment with id ' . $item['id']);
+			System::httpExit(404, ['description' => L10n::t('Item was not found.')]);
+		}
+
+		// Use quotes around the filename to prevent a "multiple Content-Disposition"
+		// error in Chrome for filenames with commas in them
+		header('Content-type: ' . $item['filetype']);
+		header('Content-length: ' . $item['filesize']);
+		if (isset($_GET['attachment']) && $_GET['attachment'] === '0') {
+			header('Content-disposition: filename="' . $item['filename'] . '"');
+		} else {
+			header('Content-disposition: attachment; filename="' . $item['filename'] . '"');
+		}
+
+		echo $data;
+		exit();
+		// NOTREACHED
+	}
+}
\ No newline at end of file