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| SILC Protocol |
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Overview
SILC protocol is a modern conferencing and chat protocol designed with
high security as the main design principle. The SILC protocol provides
the most rich set of features compared to any other conferencing or chat
protocol at the present time. In addition of rich feature set the protocol
provides high security by encrypting and authenticating both the transport
of the client-to-server and server-to-server connections, and also the messages
the users send to other users and channels. The entire SILC network is
secured and sending plaintext or unprotected messages is not possible. It
is also not possible to turn off the security features of the protocol.
The security is not optional, external plug-in to the protocol, but
integral and designed part of it.
The network topology is also different from traditional conferencing and
chat protocols. The SILC network forms so called hybrid ring-mesh network
at the router level, and star network at the server level. This sort of
network topology allows better scalability and faster delivery of packets than
traditional spanning tree style network. The router servers and normal
servers also has the distinction that only router's know global information
and keep the global network state up to date, and normal servers keep only
local information up to date. This significantly increases the scalability
of the network. The network also supports backup routers which can be used
to protect the network against netsplits.
In SILC protocol it is possible to send practically any kind of messages.
SILC supports normal text messages but also multimedia messages which
allows for example video and audio conferencing. In fact, through SILC it
is possible to send MIME messages, so any MIME type that is supported by
application can be sent in SILC.
One interesting feature in SILC is non-unique nicknames, which attracts
interest with new users. In SILC, nickname collisions has been solved once
and for all, and nicknames are not unique. It is always possible to get
the nickname user wants and there is no need for nickname registering
services. Also nickname wars that are common on many networks are obsolete
in SILC. Just like there are many people with same name in in this world,
there can be many people with same nickname in SILC. In the end, the
public keys or certificates can be used to verify the true identity of
the user.
On channels user can talk to group of users securely. Channels have operators,
and the founder who founded the channel. Hostile channel take overs are not
possible in SILC. SILC protocol also supports persistent channels, which
renders all channel registering services obsolete.
The SILC protocol also supports so called detaching, a novel idea where it is
possible to detach from the server without actually quitting the network.
It is then later possible to resume the connection back to some server in the
network, and be like you were never gone.
The SILC protocol also allows distribution and exchange of public keys
and certificates through the SILC network. It is also possible to fetch
detailed user information from other users through the SILC network. It is
possible to fetch for example users's business card, pictures, certificates,
etc. SILC protocol also supports secure file transfer to allow document
and file exchange securely between users.
SILC protocol also supports services, which are extensions to the core
protocol. They can be used to augment the features of the protocol or
to add entirely new features without breaking backwards compatibility.
> Read more about SILC protocol features
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