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Using SSL with mIRCAs of mIRC v6.14, secure servers connections are now supported via SSL, using the OpenSSL libraries. You will have to download the OpenSSL 0.9.7d (or newer) libraries separately from mIRC and place them in the mIRC folder for this to work. Due to the varying import/export restrictions of encryption across countries, the OpenSSL DLLs cannot be distributed with mIRC.
Which files do I need specifically?You will need libeay32.dll and ssleay32.dll of OpenSSL 0.9.7d (or newer), and possibly msvcr70d.dll as well. They must be downloaded and placed in the mIRC folder, or in the Windows system folder. The DLLs with which we tested SSL are a default compile of the OpenSSL 0.9.7c and 0.9.7d sources. If you have experience with SSL/OpenSSL and are able to compile your own DLLs, please do so. When the OpenSSL DLLs are compiled under Visual C++ .Net, they also need msvcr70d.dll to work, which does not come with Win9x. So be sure to download that as well if necessary. If you have no idea how to compile files, you can use the Win32 OpenSSL installer available here. This installer provides a simple installation of OpenSSL. It will place the required DLLs in the Windows system folder.
After that, how does it work?mIRC will load the DLLs automatically if it finds them. The variable $sslready can be used to determine whether mIRC has loaded the dlls successfully. To initiate a secure connection to an SSL capable server, you can use the /server -e switch, or prefix the port number with a plus sign, eg. +7001. The variable $ssl can be used to determine whether the current connection is secure or not. SSL settings can be found in the View/Options/Connect/Options dialog but these are visible only when the OpenSSL DLLs have been found and loaded.
Which servers support SSL connections?There are very few SSL-capable servers at present, however you can test SSL easily by connecting to irc.kaffee-net.de:+6670. You won't notice much difference from connecting to a normal server. When you are connecting you'll notice something like:
-irc.kaffee-net.de- *** You are connected to irc.kaffee-net.de with TLSv1-AES256-SHA-256bits
And if you do a /whois on yourself you'll see something like:
Krejt is tjerk@Kaffee-C780FB.xxx.xxx.nl * Tjerk Vonck
Krejt is connecting from *@CB97235.xxx.xxx.nl Krejt on #mirc Krejt using irc.kaffee-net.de Root of ... of ... I don't know ;>= Krejt is a Secure Connection Krejt has been idle 4secs, signed on Wed Mar 03 16:42:15 Krejt End of /WHOIS list.
Are there any other SSL-capable servers?Sure, quite a few in fact! Here you have a small selection of them to test with;
irc.munchkins.net:+9999
Why the need for secure connections?mIRC is used by many organizations that need to communicate over secure connections, everything from corporate to governmental. Various educational organizations that provide online teaching also require communications to be secure for privacy purposes. Apart from that, many individuals around the world also depend on secure communications, whether for political, business, or other reasons. At the end of the day, it really depends on your own personal needs. If it's not something that you think you need, then you probably don't!
Issues to note...Information you exchange with an IRC server over a secure connection can not be viewed or changed by others. However, be aware that traffic between public servers on a network is exchanged over plain, open unencrypted lines. This means that if you want to be sure that your communication is secure, you and the person with whom you want to communicate securely should both connect to the same SSL-capable server, and communicate via a query window. If talking on a channel, be aware that everyone on the channel must be on a secure connection. If one person on the channel is not on a secure connection, your communications on that channel will not be secure. |
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