Table of Contents
Connecting with SSL Encryption
Introduction
This is a guide to help you configure your IRC client software to connect to AfterNET using SSL encryption.
Why encryption
Our SSL encryption support is intended to protect you from those on your local network intercepting passwords or reading your conversations. Essentially we want you to be able to login to your account(s) over wifi and speak poorly of your boss without fear of snooping. It is NOT end-to-end security and you should never use IRC to discuss company secrets or anything truly of value. Various governments and other people with physical access to our hosting facilities could still spy on you.
Enabling encryption
Our servers have SSL enabled on ports 6697 and 9998. We support only TLS1.2 which means some older clients will not be able to use SSL if they can only do SSLv3 or TLS1. See our Clients page to find a client that will work for you.
Configure your software to connect to the server named irc.afternet.org on port 6697 or 9998 and enable encryption.
hexchat
In the “hexchat → Network List..” menu under AfterNET, Set the port to 6697 and select the 'use encryption' checkbox. You should also be able to leave the 'Accept invalid SSL certificates' checkbox unchecked
ZNC
In the ZNC bouncer, add a '+' (plus sign) in front of the port number when adding a server to enable SSl on that server. example: /msg *status addserver irc.afternet.org +6697
mIRC
Make sure you have the latest version. Old versions have insecure ssl libraries which have been blocked.
To enable SSL in mirc use the -e switch in the /server command, or put a '+' (plu sign) in front of the port number, ie +6697
Certificate Authority
Our server certificates are signed by https://letsencrypt.org