Messaging service wants to hide who users have chatted with

A yet to be set up messaging service wants to make it impossible for secret services to find out who users have spoken to. This is done by means of a local chat server and anonymization network Tor. Developers have yet to make the service.

The service is called Invisible.im and the security researchers working on it have got a prototype up and running. Invisible.im works with Tor’s routing address, so users have [email protected] as their account; so that a user can be found.

The local chat server works with xmpp, an open source protocol for chat services that has formed the basis for services such as WhatsApp. The local server can only contact other users through Tor, which makes the anonymization service do the job of keeping the user secret. Chats will be encrypted using the Off The Record protocol.

Thanks to the combination of security measures, secret services would not be able to find out who and when a user chatted, the security researchers claim. However, there are several possible threats to the new service: if it is a success, users can expect a lot of spam because sending anonymous messages is the intention of the service. In addition, any success could put a heavy burden on the Tor network.