SSL Support

Vortec IRC supports secure server connections via the OpenSSL libraries. At the time of writing, Vortec can only use OpenSSL libraries compiled for Indy 9 or 10. This may change in the future.

To enable SSL connections you will need to download the appropriate libraries. You can google "Indy 10 SSL" to find the libraries. You will need to place the two .dll files, libeay32.dll and ssleay32.dll, in your main Vortec directory. Vortec IRC does not supply the SSL library files.

To connect to a SSL enabled server you will need to use the /SERVER command using a special "-s" switch to tell Vortec to use SSL.

/server -s irc.mozilla.org 6697

If you wish to use a point-and-click approach, edit the server list and add a server entry with an SSL-enabled port. Use a plus "+" symbol in front of the port number to denote SSL support.

irc.mozilla.org:+6697

Required Files

You will need the libeay32.dll and ssleay32.dll placed in the Vortec IRC folder or in the Windows\system32 folder. These files will need to be version 0.9.6g or later, compiled specifically for Indy. You can find these files at the following locations:

Connecting to an SSL enabled server

To start a secure connection to an SSL enabled server you will need to use the /server -s switch.

eg. /server -s irc.mozilla.org 6697

Here is a short list of SSL enabled servers which you can try.

irc.axenet.org:6697

irc.distributed.net:994

irc.indymedia.org:6697

irc.irchighway.net:9999

irc.ircnexus.net:6697

irc.ircsystems.net:6697

irc.kaffee-net.de:6670

irc.link-net.org:7000

irc.mozilla.org:6697

irc.villageirc.net:9999

irc.wiredirc.net:6668

ssl.wondernet.nu:6000

When connecting to a server, you will see little indication that anything is different. Vortec will display a message at logon, and you may also do a /whois on yourself which should show a message stating that you are on a secure connection.

Things to note

Information between you and an IRC server exchanged over a secure connection cannot be viewed by others. However, data transferred between public servers on a network is unencrypted. If you want to ensure that your communication is secure, both you and the person with whom you are communicating need to be connected to the same SSL enabled server. If talking in a channel, everyone in the channel must be on a secure connection. If any user in the channel is not on a secure connection, your communication in that channel will not be secure.

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