<font size="2">
<br><br>
SILC (Secure Internet Live Conferencing) is a protocol which provides
-secure conferencing services in the Internet over insecure channel. SILC
-is IRC like software although internally they are very different. Biggest
-similarity between SILC and IRC is that they both provide conferencing
-services and that SILC has almost same commands as IRC. Other than that
-they are nothing alike. Biggest differences are that SILC is secure what
-IRC is not in any way. The network model is also entirely different
-compared to IRC.
+secure conferencing services in the Internet over insecure channel. SILC
+superficially resembles IRC, although they are very different internally.
+They both provide conferencing services and have almost same set of of
+commands. Other than that, they are nothing alike. The SILC is secure and
+the network model is entirely different compared to IRC.
<br><br>
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 people 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 people is able to change the contents of the messages. Also, all the authentication data, such as, passwords are sent plaintext.
+matter, cannot be used. Anyone can see the messages and their contents in
+the IRC network. And the most worse case, some people is able to change
+the contents of the messages. Also, all the authentication data, such as,
+passwords are sent plaintext.
<br><br>
SILC is a lot more than just about `encrypting the traffic'. That is easy
-enough to do with IRC, SSL and some ad hoc scripts, and even then the
-entire network cannot be secured, only part of it. SILC provides security
-services, such as, sending private messages entirely secure; no one can
-see the message except you and the real receiver of the message. SILC
-also provides same functionality for channels; no one except those
-clients joined to the channel may see the messages destined to the
-channel. Communication between client and server is also secured with
-session keys, and all commands, authentication data (such as passwords
-etc.) and other traffic is entirely secured. The entire network, and all
-parts of it, is secured. We are not aware of any other conferencing
-protocol providing same features at the present time.
+enough to do with IRC and SSL hybrids, but even then the entire network
+cannot be secured, only part of it. SILC provides security services, such
+as, sending private messages entirely secure; no one can see the message
+except you and the real receiver of the message. SILC also provides same
+functionality for channels; no one except those clients joined to the
+channel may see the messages destined to the channel. Communication
+between client and server is also secured with session keys, and all
+commands, authentication data (such as passwords etc.) and other traffic
+is entirely secured. The entire network, and all parts of it, is secured.
+We are not aware of any other conferencing protocol providing same
+features at the present time.
<br><br>
SILC has secure key exchange protocol that is used to create the session
keys for each connection. SILC also provides strong authentication based
session keys, all channels has channel specific keys, and all private
messages can be secured with private message specific keys.
<br><br>
+</font>
+
+<b>Availability</b>
+<font size="2">
+<br><br>
+The SILC is distributed currently as three different packages. The SILC
+Client package, the SILC Server package and the SILC Toolkit package. Each
+of the package has its intended audience.
+<br><br>
+- SILC Client package is intended for end users who seek 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 <a href="http://irssi.org/">Irssi project</a>).
+<br><br>
+- 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.
+<br><br>
+- 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 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 some other
+libraries. It also includes the Irssi-SILC Client, another client as an
+example how to program with the Toolkit and the SILC Server.
+<br><br>
+</font>
+
+<b>Licensing</b>
+<font size="2">
+<br><br>
SILC is an open source (or freeware) project and it has been released
under the GNU General Public Licence. The SILC is free to use and
everyone is free to distribute and change the SILC under the terms of the
-GNU GPL. While there is no guarantee for the product SILC has been tried
-make as secure as possible. The fact that the software and the protocol
+GNU GPL. While there is no guarantee for the product, SILC is made as
+secure as possible. The fact that the software and the protocol
is open for public analysis is a good thing for end user.
<br><br>
Protocol specification of SILC protocol is available for anyone to look
-at. There exists four Internet Drafts that has been submitted to <a
+at. There exists four Internet Drafts that has been submitted to
the <a
href="http://www.ietf.org">IETF</a>. See <a
href="index.php?page=docs">documentation page</a> for more information.
<br><br></font>
Feedback and comments are welcome. You can reach me in the following Address.
<br><br>
Pekka Riikonen<br>
-priikone at poseidon.pspt.fi
+priikone at silcnet.org
</font>
<br><br>
projects / silc.git / blobdiff