Connecting via TLS

What is Transport Layer Security (TLS)?

Transport Layer Security (TLS), and its now-deprecated predecessor, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), are cryptographic protocols designed to provide communications security over a computer network.

The TLS protocol provides privacy and data integrity between two or more communicating computer applications. When secured by TLS, connections between a client (e.g., a web browser) and a server (e.g., hybridirc.com) should have one or more of the following properties:

What is the difference between TLS and SSL?

TLS evolved from SSL, which was developed by Netscape. TLS 1.0 began as SSL 3.1, but the name was changed to indicate independence from Netscape. The terms TLS and SSL are sometimes used interchangeably.

What does TLS do?

The TLS protocol offers three main components:

• Encryption: Hides transferred data from third parties.
• Authentication: Confirms the identity of communicating parties.
• Integrity: Verifies data has not been altered.

Connecting to HybridIRC via TLS (SSL)

HybridIRC supports TLS on all servers via port 6697. When connected via TLS, "is using a secure connection" will appear in your /WHOIS output (numeric 671).

To verify server certificates:

• Ensure your system has up-to-date root CA certificates (e.g., ca-certificates package).
• On FreeBSD, install ca_root_nss to /usr/local/share/certs/ca-root-nss.crt.
• Connect using irc.hybridirc.com for proper certificate validation.
• If needed, download root certificates from Let's Encrypt.

HybridIRC also supports client TLS certificates for identification. If connected with one, a fingerprint like f1ecf46714198533cda14cccc76e5d7114be4195 will appear in your WHOIS (numeric 276).