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LanChat

LanChat is an encrypted chat application for the paranoid

Why not just use Google Talk + Pidgin + OTR (Off-The-Record messaging)?

Several reasons.

  1. Sending your private traffic across the internet and through Google's servers is completely unnecessary, especially when the person/people you're chatting with are nearby

  2. When you use such a 3rd party service, the company behind it knows some combination of who you are, who you're communicating with, and other information it makes no sense to disclose (e.g., when communication occurs, how much traffic is sent, and other things that could be used against you as part of advanced traffic analysis).

    This especially matters to us at The Cloak Project, as one of our primary goals is to provide ridiculously paranoid tools with innovative security properties.

    When it comes to 3rd parties, we aim to disclose nothing.

  3. LanChat is simpler. Thanks to how Go works, LanChat can be compiled and stored as a single statically-linked binary -- just one file -- that assumes the existence of no special dependencies on the computer running it (just OS and architecture).

  4. Due to its brevity, LanChat's code is much easier to read and therefore audit than Pidgin's or that of other programs.

Current Features

  • AES-encrypted chat

Example Usage

Server

If you're acting as the server, run the following:

lanchat -serve

then follow the provided instructions. (If lanchat isn't installed but you've downloaded the source code, run go run lanchat.go ... instead of lanchat ....)

Client

If someone else's set up the server and you're just connecting, run

lanchat -server 192.168.xx.yy:9999

then follow the provided instructions.

Testing

Local Testing

If the server is already running on localhost (and therefore using port 10000 for its own TCP or telnet clients), choose a different local port to listen on:

go run lanchat.go -local-port 10001 -server localhost:9999

Multiple, Concurrent Local Clients

Similar to the above, except you may want to accept many TCP/telnet clients:

go run lanchat.go -local-port 10001 -local-conns 5 -server localhost:9999

TODO

  • Remove weird restrictions on SharedSecret length

  • Clients should call os.Exit(1) when they disconnect from the server

    • Better yet, they should try reconnecting, and say they're so

  • Decide whether to merge LanChat, MailChat, and/or CloakCast into CloakChat

  • Create server helper repo

    • Include TCPServer

  • Rewrite TCPServer to return earlier

    • Launch the major for loop in a goroutine, then return

      • There is no significant, panic-worthy concern once that loop is reached

  • Server should tell users how many others are connected when they connect

    • Do the same after user has been idle for a while

  • Add special instructions somewhere for those without Go installed

    • How about on the GitHub wiki for The Cloak Project?

  • Make MAX_MESSAGE_SIZE a flag/command line option

  • Always correctly report disconnections

Maybe-TODO

  • Create "server pass-through mode"

    • Server just relays encrypted messages back and forth, never sees the key

    • Decide whether server should send unencrypted message saying len(conns)

  • Add padding

    • Make all messages 50kb in length?

  • Add flocking

    • Send message every second or two?

  • ...Remove embarrassing global variables...

Completed TODO Items (cross 'em off!)

  • When a new user connects to your server, say so

  • De-relativize ./types package

  • Create crypto helper repo

    • Add AES{EncryptDecrypt}Bytes, PadBytes

      • Consider adding Gob{Encode,Decode} functions

    • (Use these functions in LanChat and Vaporizer)

    • Consider calling it github.com/thecloakproject/utils{,/crypt}

  • Replace log.Printf(...); os.Exit(1) with log.Fatalf(...)

  • Create NewConnList() "constructor" function