08-16-2017, 10:51 PM
Secure Internet Live Conferencing (SILC) protocol
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INTRODUCTION
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 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.
The Secure Internet Live Conferencing (SILC) protocol is a new generation chat protocol which provides full featured conferencing services, just like any other contemporary chat protocol provides. In addition, it provides security by encrypting and authenticating the messages in the network. The security has been the primary goal of the SILC protocol and the protocol has been designed from the day one security in mind. All packets and messages travelling in the SILC Network are always encrypted and authenticated. The network topology is also different from for example IRC network. The SILC network topology attempts to be more powerful and scalable than the IRC network. The basic purpose of the SILC protocol is to provide secure conferencing services.
The SILC Protocol has been developed as Open Source project. The protocol specifications are freely available and they have been submitted to the IETF. The protocol is currently stabilizing and has reached a version 1.2.
HISTORY
SILC protocol was designed by Pekka Riikonen, was released to the public in the summer of 2000, but both the idea and the original protocol date from 1996. The first lines of code were written in early 1997, and SILC has been rewritten three times since that very first version. The original implementation of SILC included a client, a very preliminary server, and implementations of both the RSA and 3DES encryption algorithms. The server was unusable, but the client looked every similar to the one found in the first public release. That release's random number generator was inspired by the RNG that SSH used; the current one is based on that original implementation but has been rewritten twice since then .SILC's development was temporarily suspended for a few months in 1997, when Pekka's time was consumed with work and school. It resumed in 1998 when Juha R s nen and Pekka added an implementation of the ElGamal encryption algorithm. Development stopped again because of time constraints, but in 1998 SILC was rewritten in C++, which seemed like a good idea. Pekka had to stop development yet again in the winter of 1999 as work on his thesis took up his available time. Later in 1999 it was decided that SILC would be rewritten from scratch, using C instead of C++. Core parts of the protocol were reworked, the SILC protocol was fully documented, and the specifications were submitted to the IETF. The result of this effort was the original public release in the summer of 2000. Since then, several other people have contributed to the continued
DISTRIBUTION
The SILC is distributed currently in three different packages. The SILC Client package, SILC Server package and the SILC Toolkit package. Each package has its intended audience. SILC Client package is intended for end users who are looking for a good and full featured SILC client. The SILC Client package currently includes Irssi-SILC client that supports all SILC features, themes and much more. It is curses based but has a possibility of adding various other frontends to it. The Irssi-SILC client's user interface is based on the Irssi client (see Irssi project). SILC Server package is intended for system administrators who would like to run their own SILC server or SILC router. The package includes the actual server but not the client. If you are running a server and would like to connect it to the silc.silcnet.org router you can contact us.SILC Toolkit package is intended for developers and programmers who would like to create their own SILC based applications or help in the development of the SILC protocol. The actual development of the SILC is done in the Toolkit and all the other packages are based on the SILC Toolkit releases. The Toolkit includes SILC Protocol Core library, SILC Crypto library, SILC Key Exchange (SKE) library, SILC Math library, SILC Modules (SIM) library, SILC Utility library, SILC Client library and few other libraries. It also includes the Irssi-SILC Client, another client as an example how to program with the Toolkit and the SILC Server
TYPES OF CHAT PROTOCOLS
Instant Messanging [IM]
Internet Relay Chat [IRC]
Extensible Messaging And Presence Protocol [XMPP]
Secure Internet Live Conferencing [SILC]
INSTANT MESSANGING [IM]:
IM is a collection of technologies used for real-time text-based communication between two or more participants over the Internet, or other types of networks Allows effective & efficient communication with immediate reciept of Acknowledgement. It may be text, voice or video. The drawback of this Protocol is Security risks Compliance risks inappropriate use.
INTERNET RELAY CHAT [IRC]:
IRC is one of the very 1st chat protocols on earth. Form of real-time internet text messaging (chat) or synchronous conferencing. Mainly designed for group communication.The drawback of this Protocol is connections are usually unencrypted and typically span long time periods, they are an attractive target for crackers
EXTENSIBLE MESSAGING AND PRESENCE PROTOCOL [XMPP]:
XMPP is an open-standard communications protocol for message-oriented middleware based on XML. Systems approach of development and application. Google Wave's federation protocol is an extension to the XMPP protocol. The drawback of this Protocol is Presence data overhead In-band binary data transfer is inefficient.