Irc

[firestarter5]

1) I'd like to try IRC, but after reading the short text file from "Entropy" about Hacking IRC, I wonder if there are any benefits. Nukes, Flooding, Cloaking, etc. I've been in other "chat" enviroments and I eventually left because the amount of defensive software I had running just to stay online was ridiculous.


2) I've read somewhere that IRC is a "pay to use" service. Is this true?

[roswell1329]

Pay? For IRC? Perish the thought. IRC has always been free, and will likely always be free. I'm no IRC expert, but I've never seen anyone ever charge for IRC. It would be pretty ridiculous. There are so many other servers out there that are free, charging for it would just be a way of losing all your members. As for the defensive software, it is possible for people to do some wacky things with IRC, but you can avoid most of it by using a "safer" client like the Java client for the AO server. I don't know too much about the different kinds of IRC attacks, but I've never seen anything malicious on AO's server.

[er0k]

bah wtf would you not use irc? it owns any other messaging system imo, it may lack security but at least its real time, with commands, and lots of other cool features. just dont run it on your main box or server and youll be fine. Remember (misquoted im sure but who cares ): guest or someone else i cant remember there name, we will refer to them as bob

rioter: irc on root is stupid Bob: why? rioter: i don't know

[Dome]

ok IRC being 'insecure' isnt really all what everyone thinks....

a server like AO sets a usermode of +x wich masks your host, so instead of seing Liran!Dome@209.42.44.1 it will show Liran!Dome@34059-dsli.com or something along those lines.... so the person doesnt have your IP...

as far as flooding goes, flooding only affects the server, not the clinet... you will not recieve a lag due to flooding, but the server will be lagged..... we have had a few DDoS attacks on the AO server, but its no big deal, we can handle it most of the time cus JPs pipe is pretty big(perverts!).

Nuking and all that other bullshit is gone, back in the old days people got your IP from IRC and then used WineNuke to 'Nuke' you with the blue screen of death, well those days are practically over... most servers mask your host, and WinNuke doesnt work anyway from what ive seen.

IRC is Safe, go on it, have fun... dont WORRY!

oh and as for 'irc on root is stupid'... for you *nix users, yes going into IRC on root can be pretty dumb, if your IRC client has an exploit out, the person can run malicious code on your server as root, if he runs at as a normal user u dont really have to worry TOO much cus he probably wont get too far if you have all youer premissions and everything in place.... but if its root then your screwed.

[slarty]

Clearly there are exploits available for some chat clients. These can be mitigated by using the latest version of your chat client, and turning off the ctcp version command.

These will effectively protect you against attacks against your irc client, and like Dome says, people can't get your IP address if you use servers which hide it. AO's server does this, if you use a secure client then you're sorted.

Yes in the past I've been in kiddie channels (on other servers I might add) where you go in there and wait like, 5 mins to have DoSs against you, but they aren't that common. If your system isn't wide open you're probably ok.

If you go in #2600 on Undernet, expect skript kiddies, if you go on irc.antionline.com you should be ok.

[firestarter5]

"Pay. For IRC? Perish the thought"

"To use IRC you need a small program like mIRC, an IRC client for Windows, written by Khaled Mardam-Bey. mIRC is a friendly IRC client that is well equipped with options and tools. mIRC is shareware, which means that you can download mIRC and try it out freely for 30 days to evaluate it. If during, or at the end of, the evaluation period you decide that you would like to continue using mIRC, you must register your copy."