Cryptography is often seen as scary and unusable by users, that is why we are exited that as of today we have an important and very fluffy new website on our servers. Cryptocat enables you to have a safer chat with everyone. Cryptocat combines a very friendly user interface with strong end-to-end encryption and fluffy feline friends. A great match to make using cryptography less hard and more fun.
To Greenhost it is more clear than ever that everyone should use as much encryption as possible, not only to protect ourselves, but also to make encryption itself less suspect for those who might need it even more. This has everything to do with the revelations of Snowden, combined with the fact that if the NSA has such capabilities we can be pretty sure that other governments can have them as well. There is no such thing as 100% security, but taking some basic measures can help you a great deal in making it a lot harder others to invade your privacy. So we like to see a tool like Cryptocat that makes encryption more accessible to everyone.
Cryptocat works on OSX as a standalone app, but is also available as a plugin for all major browsers like Firefox, Chrome and Safari. Since computers without an internet browser are hard to find these days, changes are you'll be able to run Cryptocat without a hitch. Since Cryptocat is based on open standards it also connects to ChatSecure (iOS) and Gibberbot (Android) to have a secure chat with mobile friends.
This is what you have to do
- Choose the right plugin for your browser and install it
- Choose a nice nickname and create a chat channel or join an existing one. If you want to chat with us you could join the Greenhost chatroom for instance!
- Ready!
Cryptocat has made you a key-pair while serving you interesting facts about cats. Not only has your cat-knowledge just been updated but your chat channel is now encrypted from end to end. To make sure that the person on the other end of the line really is the one he or she says it is you can ask a question. Something like "What is my favourite Pulp Fiction character" or "What did I do last summer?" could be good. Just as long as you know certainly that only you two can know the answer. Now you have encryption and verification and you can start chatting!
The developer of Cryptocat is Nadim Kobeissi (@kaepora). He has been working on Cryptocat for many years and has all the good qualities of a coder: a little ADHD, somewhat eccentric and very devoted to good code and security. Talks with him are known to get interrupted every now and then to look at pictures of cats on his laptop. Still he had time to answer some questions for me:
- Nadim, why did you make Cryptocat?
Cryptocat is important because it tries to make it easier to use encryption to protect your privacy online. We want to make it so that if you know how to use web chat, then you already know how to use Cryptocat, and you can chat without compromising your privacy online.
- What's up with the cats?
Cryptocat has a cat-themed identity because cats are universally recognised as cute and friendly. I also personally love cats and see them as wonderful, kind creatures.
- Last night you migrated your site to Greenhost. We're honoured!
Yeah, I chose Greenhost because I'm familiar with their team, and know that I can trust them to provide skilled digital security for my servers, as well as be reliable managers of any potential threats to the Cryptocat network. Greenhost's team was formed from a grass roots community of friends that have contributed a lot to the open source and Internet freedom community, and that's exactly the kind of people I want managing Cryptocat's network.
To end, Nadim warns rightfully that Cryptocat is no silver bullet. No piece of software can keep you 100% save and using Cryptocat in life threatening situation is advised against. But for all of us who strongly believe in the value of privacy and like to know that their conversations are encrypted from beginning to end, Cryptocat is a great piece of software we can highly recommend!
edit 19-9: changed intro