Chat protocols are very popular on the Internet. They have actually been very popular since the very first chat protocols appeared on the net. The Internet Relay Chat (IRC) was one of the first chat protocols, and quickly gained the status of being the most popular chat on the net. Today, IRC has several competitors from various other so called Instant Messaging (IM) protocols, such as ICQ. However, all of these different chat protocols have something in common; they are all insecure. The security is important feature in applications and protocols in contemporary network environment. The older chat protocols, however have failed to meet the growing security requirements on the Internet. It is not anymore enough to just provide services, like for example chat services. Now, they need to be secure services.
SILC provides security services that any other conferencing protocol does not offer today. The most popular conferencing service, IRC, is entirely insecure. If you need secure place to talk to some person or to group of people over the Internet, IRC or any other conferencing service, for that matter, cannot be used. Anyone can see the messages and their contents in the IRC network. And the most worse case, some is able to change the contents of the messages. Also, all the authentication data, such as, passwords are sent plaintext in IRC.
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