Silc (protocol)

Information about Silc (protocol)

SILC (Secure Internet Live Conferencing protocol) is a protocol which provides secure synchronous conferencing services over the Internet.

Components

The SILC protocol can be divided in three main parts: SILC Key Exchange (SKE) protocol, SILC Authentication protocol and SILC Packet protocol. SILC protocol additionally defines SILC Commands that are used to manage the SILC session. As many other conferencing and chat protocols SILC too provides channels (groups), nicknames, private messages, and other common features. However, SILC nicknames, in contrast to many other protocols (e.g. IRC), are not unique; a user is able to use any nickname, even if one is already in use. The real identification in the protocol is performed by unique Client ID. The SILC protocol uses this to overcome nickname collision, a problem present in many other protocols. All messages sent in a SILC network are binary, allowing them to contain any type of data, including text, video, audio, and other multimedia data. The SKE protocol is used to establish session key and other security parameters for protecting the SILC Packet protocol. The SKE itself is based on the Diffie-Hellman key exchange algorithm (a form of asymmetric cryptography) and the exchange is protected with digital signatures. The SILC Authentication protocol is performed after successful SKE protocol execution to authenticate a client and/or a server. The authentication may be based on passphrase or on digital signatures, and if successful gives access to the relevant SILC network. The SILC Packet protocol is intended to be a secure binary packet protocol, assuring that the content of each packet (consisting of a packet header and packet payload) is secured and authenticated. The packets are secured using algorithms based on symmetric cryptography and authenticated by using Message Authentication Code algorithm, HMAC.

SILC channels (groups) are protected by using symmetric channel keys. It is optionally possible to digitally sign all channel messages. It is also possible to protect messages with a privately-generated channel key that has been previously agreed upon by channel members. Private messages between users in a SILC network are protected with session keys. It is, however, possible to execute SKE protocol between two users and use the generated key to protect private messages. Private messages may be optionally digitally signed. When messages are secured with key material generated with the SKE protocol or previously agreed upon key material (for example, passphrases) SILC provides security even when the SILC server may be compromised.

History

SILC was designed by Pekka Riikonen between 1996 and 1999 and first released in public in summer 2000. A client and a server were written. Protocol specifications have been iterated through the IETF. At present time, there are several clients, the most advanced being the official SILC client and an irssi plugin. SILC protocol is also integrated to the popular Pidgin instant messaging client. Other GUI clients are Silky and Colloquy.

External links

protocol is a convention or standard that controls or enables the connection, communication, and data transfer between two computing endpoints. In its simplest form, a protocol can be defined as the rules governing the syntax, semantics, and synchronization of communication.
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Synchronous conferencing is the formal term used in science, in particular in computer-mediated communication, collaboration and learning, to describe text chat technologies. It has arisen at a time when the term chat had a negative connotation.
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Internet is a worldwide, publicly accessible series of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the standard Internet Protocol (IP). It is a "network of networks" that consists of millions of smaller domestic, academic, business, and government
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Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a form of real-time Internet chat or synchronous conferencing. It is mainly designed for group (many-to-many) communication in discussion forums called channels, but also allows one-to-one communication and data transfers via private message.
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Multimedia (Lat. Multum + Medium) is media that uses multiple forms of information content and information processing (e.g. text, audio, graphics, animation, video, interactivity) to inform or entertain the (user) audience.
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A session key is a one-off symmetric key used for encrypting one message or a group of messages in a communication session. A closely related term is traffic encryption key or TEK
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Public-key cryptography, also known as asymmetric cryptography, is a form of cryptography in which a user has a pair of cryptographic keys - a public key and a private key. The private key is kept secret, while the public key may be widely distributed.
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digital signature or digital signature scheme is a type of asymmetric cryptography used to simulate the security properties of a signature in digital, rather than written, form.
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A passphrase is a sequence of words or other text used to control access to a computer system, program or data. A passphrase is similar to a password in usage, but is generally longer for added security.
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:::For uses of the word "Packet" outside Information Technology, see Packet

In information technology, a packet is a formatted block of data carried by a packet mode computer network.
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Symmetric-key algorithms are a class of algorithms for cryptography that use trivially related, often identical, cryptographic keys for both decryption and encryption.
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A cryptographic message authentication code (MAC) is a short piece of information used to authenticate a message. A MAC algorithm accepts as input a secret key and an arbitrary-length message to be authenticated, and outputs a MAC (sometimes known as a tag).
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In cryptography, a keyed-Hash Message Authentication Code, or HMAC, is a type of message authentication code (MAC) calculated using a cryptographic hash function in combination with a secret key.
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
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Year 1996 (MCMXCVI
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Year 1999 (MCMXCIX
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2000 by topic:
News by month
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A client is an application or system that accesses a (remote) service on another computer system known as a server by way of a network. The term was first applied to devices that were not capable of running their own stand-alone programs, but could interact with remote computers
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Server Computer

The inside/front of a server computer

Connects to:

Internet via one of

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Irssi is an IRC client program originally written by Timo Sirainen, and released under the terms of the GNU General Public License. It is written in the C programming language and in normal operation uses a text-mode user interface.
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Maintainer: Sean Egan

OS: Cross-platform

Use: Instant messaging client
License: GNU General Public License
Website: pidgin.im

Pidgin (formerly named Gaim
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graphical user interface (GUI) is a type of user interface which allows people to interact with a computer and computer-controlled devices which employ graphical icons, visual indicators or special graphical elements called "widgets", along with text, labels or text
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OS: Mac OS X

Use: IRC Client
License: GPL
Website: www.colloquy.info

Colloquy is an open-source IRC, SILC and ICB client for Mac OS X.
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