Encrirc

As an avid IRC user, I have always been concerned about the inherent security risks associated with the plaintext protocol. Anyone can easily sniff my connections, which makes it crucial to have a reliable solution to protect my sensitive data. Thankfully, many clients and servers have now added support for SSL, which allows me to connect securely to the IRC server via a secure SSL connection. With SSL, no one can read what is being passed between my client and the server.

However, this is not always enough. To further safeguard my information, I needed an IRC client that would send encrypted messages over the IRC protocol using a well-known and reliable block cipher, with a unique key known only to me and my buddy, Bob. Some clients, like xchat, IRSSI, and mIRC, already have specific encryption plugins available. But with so many different IRC clients available, it's not always possible to find a compatible encryption plugin.

Fortunately, there is a solution for this too. You can now write an IRC "repeater" or "proxy" that sits in the middle between the IRC client and the server. It doesn't matter whether the connection between the server and the Encrirc is secure or not because everything will be encrypted before passing through the internet. Even the server administrator will not be able to read my messages, as only Bob and I have access to the correct key.

Of course, to use Encrirc, we also need a secure channel to share the Encrirc key. But this is an easy fix - we can use PGP or GPG and the email to share the key securely. With Encrirc, I can now enjoy secure messaging through IRC, no matter which client I use!