Using Pidgin with OTR for secure communications
In an age when we should assume as if all BGP (Border Gate Protocol) core routers and PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) lines are wiretapped, where its trivial for a not-so-sophisticated attacker to utilize readily available FOSS (Free Open Source Software) to compromise LAN (Local Area Network) and WAN (Wide Area Network) infrastructure, and all GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications; the most popular standard for mobile telephone systems in the world) encryption except for the latest and greatest A5/3 can be cryptanalysed in real time with FPGA‘s (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), it becomes necessary to use proven encryption practices to exchange information with our friends, colleagues, and fellow workers.
Pidgin is an easy to use and free Instant Messaging Client used by millions; it supports multiple Instant Messaging (or chat) network protocols (Google, AOL, Yahoo, Jabber, IRC, etc.) that function at the application layer of the OSI model. Off-the-record (a cryptographic protocol ) provides encryption, authentication, deniability, and perfect forward secrecy. With Pidgin and Off-the-record we can securely communicate between clients, colleagues and fellow workers on multiple Operating Systems such as Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Linux, BSD or UNIX.
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