After installing 10.4.3 earlier, I launched iChat and received a message noting that iChat can automatically encrypt my text, audio, and video chats with other .Mac subscribers who have also enabled encryption.
Neat, I thought, and enabled the encryption.
Now what's funny is that after I enabled this, the first person to IM me was Gavin, and the first two bits of the chat appeared as "Unable to decrypt message."
Great.
Now I'm already eagerly awaiting 10.4.4.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-31-2005 @ 7:42PM
John said...
The other question it begs is what effect will the encryption have on performance, especially video.
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10-31-2005 @ 7:43PM
C.K. Sample, III said...
John: yep. It kept doing this every time someone IMed me, so I disabled the encryption. *annoying*
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10-31-2005 @ 7:52PM
Zach Forrester said...
Is it possible that it only encrypts .Mac conversations, not ones over AIM or Jabber?
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10-31-2005 @ 7:56PM
C.K. Sample, III said...
Zach, yes. That's what it says, but if that's the case, it shouldn't interfere with other non-.Mac chats like it did.
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10-31-2005 @ 9:02PM
John said...
I find when I look in iChat's Help that when you click on the link for What's New then scroll down to the paragraph on the encryption feature, clicking on the Encryption link gives you an error "TopicListNoResults"
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11-01-2005 @ 9:51AM
Sam Katz said...
sounds like they used someone else's encryption code. Zonelabs' IM Secure does this also.
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11-01-2005 @ 9:54AM
Sam Katz said...
and I should add -- it's harmless. It's just a warning to users that their chat is not secure.
--Sam
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11-01-2005 @ 10:45AM
renaissanc echambara said...
Hi, if you need safe chat, I would recommend the Adium X multiprotocol chat client that includes iChat compatability.
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11-01-2005 @ 11:23AM
DWalla said...
Works for me... but I had to enable encryption and then restart iChat in order to get it to work.
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11-01-2005 @ 2:57PM
Garrett Kline said...
A couple of comments...
First, remember encryption requires that both AIM users have paid .Mac accounts. If you one of the chat members has a plain AIM account, this is what can happen.
If both AIM users have paid .Mac accounts, it would be great if you could head over to the Apple Discussions Boards and post more information. That way we can better follow up and help figure out what is going on.
As for encrypted video chats, you need to make sure that your Buddy is in your Buddy list for any encrypted video chats to work.
Garrett.
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11-02-2005 @ 12:09AM
deano said...
Any chance that the .Mac-based chats are using a Jabber server, and thus that JABBER-BASED chats can now all be transparently encrypted? That would be cool. ;)
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11-21-2005 @ 9:00PM
Jeff Z said...
If you enable iChat encryption, .Mac will generate a Certificate and key with your .Mac name and store it in your keychain. This is used to encrypt iChat text and video and works well.
You can also use your .Mac certificate to sign and encrypt email. To do this Open Keychain Access, check that your .Mac certificate is there, then go to the preferences and check "Search .Mac for Certificates". You can then start Apple Mail, use your .Mac email account, and you will see icons on the right above the message window to toggle on/off encrypting and digital signing of email. Remember, to encrypt email to another person you must have their certificate in your keychain.
Reply
11-21-2005 @ 9:00PM
Jeff Z said...
If you enable iChat encryption, .Mac will generate a Certificate and key with your .Mac name and store it in your keychain. This is used to encrypt iChat text and video and works well.
You can also use your .Mac certificate to sign and encrypt email. To do this Open Keychain Access, check that your .Mac certificate is there, then go to the preferences and check "Search .Mac for Certificates". You can then start Apple Mail, use your .Mac email account, and you will see icons on the right above the message window to toggle on/off encrypting and digital signing of email. Remember, to encrypt email to another person you must have their certificate in your keychain.
Reply