The two are a powerful combination, but their effectiveness has its limitations. However, given that the answer goes on to talk entirely about private networks and encryption, it is clear that RetroShare relies on these two features at the expense of others. “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. We recommend this program to all users.Figure 1: Started in 2006, RetroShare offers one possible solution to today’s security and privacy problems. The program installs and uninstalls without issues. Other than that, though, we found the program to be easy to use and quite efficient for sharing files with other trusted users. We were a little confused by the News Feed button we thought perhaps that Retroshare had an RSS reader, but there didn't seem to be any way to add new feeds, and this feature wasn't addressed at all in the brief Help file. The program has an array of cool features, including built-in chat, messaging, and forums, all of which are as secure as the file-sharing. Users then simply select the folders that they want to share, and other users can browse through them and download files at their leisure. Adding other people to the network isn't as easy as some other programs make it-Retroshare users must exchange XPGP certificates and enter them manually-but the process isn't too difficult. The program's interface is plain and intuitive, with its major features represented by graphical buttons. This simple program lets users create private file-sharing networks for the easy transfer of files between friends, family, or co-workers-and no one else. What if you could take that same concept and shrink it down so that the only people on the network were the ones you invited? Retroshare allows you to do just that. Many of us have used peer-to-peer file-sharing programs that allow us to connect to networks with thousands of other users, sharing music, movies, and more.
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