![]() ![]() “Of Course RetroShare is private and secure,” is the answer. “Is RetroShare private and secure?” asks a question in the project’s FAQ. They can be cosmetic, preferences, or a matter of security. For example, do you really want friends to relay your communications to other friends? What about friends of friends of friends? As friends start to sign up, you should also consider which friends you want in each chat lobby.įigure 5: Check options closely. Many are cosmetic or a matter of preference, but many could potentially affect security (Figure 5). However, before you start inviting too many friends into your network, spend some time investigating RetroShare’s O ptions. The project pages suggest that a private network is more interesting if it has a minimum of five members, and the more the better. You also have the option of disabling access to some of RetroShare’s features using the Permissions tab in the Options dialog. Encryption is used in all interactions, which bars outsiders from seeing them. Similarly, you can share files or links with some or all of those on the network. You can broadcast messages to everyone in your network by clicking the Network icon or set up a selected group to talk to with the Chat Lobbies icon. When you log in to RetroShare, all members of your network who are currently online are available, although they might have used the status bar at the bottom of the window to indicate they are Busy or Away and not accepting communications. The generation of a passphrase is simply incorporated into the interface and work flow.įigure 4: You can add others to your private network using a convenient wizard. Those who have tried PGP or some variant like GnuPG will recognize the request to move the mouse around in order to create as much randomness as possible while generating a public key (Figure 2), but nothing in the window indicates exactly what is being done. The first time you log in to RetroShare, you are required to create a new profile. ![]() At least RetroShare includes a graphical indicator of each user’s reputation, which provides some idea of how much they should be trusted. Social engineering, such as identity theft or simply placing trust in the wrong people remains a problem, but that is true of most security measures. The modern Internet, of course, is much larger and more complicated than its ancestor, but by communicating only with those you specifically invite, you automatically limit intrusions. RetroShare resembles an updated version of darknets, the private networks created 40 years ago on ARPANET. ![]() Figure 1: Started in 2006, RetroShare offers one possible solution to today’s security and privacy problems. ![]()
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