Using SSL with mIRC

The latest versions of mIRC all support secure server connections via SSL using the OpenSSL library. To use the OpenSSL library with mIRC you will need to download the library and place it in the mIRC folder or in the Windows System folder. You can then run mIRC and the OpenSSL library will be used automatically.

Where can I download the OpenSSL library?

An installer for OpenSSL 0.9.8i can be found here: openssl-0.9.8i-setup.exe.

This version of the OpenSSL library was created using a default compilation of the OpenSSL source files from the OpenSSL website and as such may or may not be suitable for your particular needs. If you have the technical skills to compile your own, please feel free to do so.

Where do I install OpenSSL?

You will need to place the files either in the mIRC folder (typically C:\Program Files\mIRC) or in the Windows System folder (typically C:\Windows\System32).

What do I do next?

You can now run mIRC as usual and it should find and use the OpenSSL library automatically. To confirm whether mIRC has loaded the OpenSSL library, you can open the Options dialog and look in the Connect/Options section to see if the "SSL" button is enabled.

You can also check the $sslready identifier to determine whether mIRC has loaded the OpenSSL library successfully.

To initiate a secure connection to an SSL capable server, you can use the /server -e switch, or prefix the port number with a plus sign, eg. +7001. Once connected, the variable $ssl can be used to determine whether the current connection is secure.

Which servers support SSL connections?

If an IRC network or server supports SSL connections they will normally advertise this fact in the MOTD that you see when you first connect to the server. You can look at the MOTD of your usual network or server to see if they support SSL connections. That said, here are few SSL-capable servers that you can try out:

irc.indymedia.org:+6697
irc.distributed.net:+994
irc.axenet.org:+6697
irc.link-net.org:+7000
irc.ircsystems.net:+6697
ssl.wondernet.nu:+6000
irc.villageirc.net:+9999
irc.irchighway.net:+9999
irc.wiredirc.net:+6668
irc.ircnexus.net:+6697
irc.kaffee-net.de:+6670.

When connecting to these servers you will not notice any difference from connecting to a normal server. You may see a notice such as:

*** You are connected to this server with TLSv1-AES256-SHA-256bits

And if you perform a /whois on yourself you should see a note indicating that you are using a secure connection.

Why would I need a secure connection?

mIRC is used by many organizations, from corporate to governmental, that need to communicate over secure connections. Various educational organizations that provide online teaching also require communications that are secure for privacy reasons. Apart from that, many individuals around the world also depend on secure communications, whether for personal, political, business, or other reasons. Whether you need to use secure communications depends on your own personal circumstances. If it's not something that you think you need then you probably don't.

Important issues to note

Information you exchange with an IRC server over a secure connection cannot be viewed or modified by others. However, be aware that traffic between public servers on a network is exchanged over plain, unencrypted lines. This means that if you want to be sure that your communication is secure, you and the person with whom you want to communicate securely should both connect to the same SSL-capable server, and communicate via a query window. If talking on a channel, be aware that everyone on the channel must be on a secure connection. If one person on the channel is not on a secure connection, your communications on that channel will not be secure.