ChannelSecurity

Channel Security

There are several ways on locking down your channel to restrict access.

Secret channel

The simplest (and perhaps least effective) way to prevent any random user to enter your channel, is to make your channel secret:

 /MODE #channel +s

For instance if you want to make your channel #ourSecretHideout secret, you issue:

 /MODE #ourSecretHideout +s

This will hide the channel from the channel /LIST and from the /WHO and /WHOIS outputs on users (unless you share that channel with them)

Pros

1. Can be used on unregistered channels
2. Very simple to set
3. Prevents random users from knowing about your channel through the channel /LIST, /WHO or /WHOIS commands.

Cons

1. If someone mentions your channelname in a different channel, malicious users might find out about the channel as well.
2. You won't as easily get new users perhaps, since people with similar interests can't discover the channel through /LIST
3. Mode will be lost when channel is destroyed (for instance when no-one is in the channel anymore). This can be circumvented though for registered channels by adding the +s mode to the channel's ChanServ MLOCK setting.

Channel Key

One of the more naive ways to do this on a public channel is by setting a channel key:

 /MODE #channel +k key

For instance, to require people to enter the channel key 'mySecretKey' on the channel #ourStaffChannel, you'd have to use this command:

 /MODE #ourStaffChannel +k mySecretKey

If people want to join the channel then, they'd have to specify the key in the join command:

 /JOIN #channel key

For instance, to join our example room:

 /JOIN #ourStaffChannel mySecretKey

Pros

1. Can be used on unregistered channels
2. Very simple to set
3. Prevents random users from entering your channel when they see it in the channel /LIST.

Cons

1. Mode will be lost when channel is destroyed (for instance when no-one is in the channel anymore). This can be circumvented though for registered channels by adding the key mode to the channel's ChanServ MLOCK setting.
2. First user to enter will not need the channel key to enter, since the channel effectively doesn't exist at that point and thus has no key mode set. This can be worked around by requesting the ChannelKeeper bot to be added to your channel to keep the channel open.
3. It is harder for people to join the channel if they are using an applet.
4. Keys can easily be made useless if a bad user gets ahold of the key (either by someone else on the channel giving it to them, or by reading it on your website for instance). Also note that anyone in the channel can see what the channel's key is, because it is part of the channel modes and all modes are visible. So if someone gets invited to the channel, they can find out about the key as well.

Invite-only

Set channelmode

You can restrict access to your channel by only allowing people who are invited. Making the channel invite-only is done by using the channel mode +i

 /MODE #channel +i

For instance to make our channel #ourStaffChannel invite-only, use:

 /MODE #ourStaffChannel +i

Invite user

To invite a user to the channel you can use:

 /INVITE nickname #channel

For instance, to invite the user JackDaniels to #ourStaffChannel, issue:

 /INVITE JackDaniels #ourStaffChannel

The invite command is restricted to operators (@/+o) and above when the channel is invite-only. Please also note that inviting random people can be seen as a form of advertising though and could be a breach of the IRC network's terms of use/rules.

Knock

A user can also request to be invited into the channel with the /KNOCK command:

 /KNOCK #channel message goes here

For instance, if I want to be invited to #ourStaffChannel, I can use:

 /KNOCK #ourStaffChannel Hei guys, please let me in. Itsa me! Mario!

The operators in the channel will then get an opnotice with your nickname, ident@hostmask and the message you supplied:

 NoticeOp(eu.chat4all.org): [Knock] by JackDaniels!Jack@the.liquor.cabinet (I want in..)

Upon which they can decide whether or not to invite you (or ban you in case they get tired of your knocks)

You can't knock if:

• you are banned
• you are already on the channel
• the channel is not invite-only

Pros

• Random users can't enter your channel without your permission
• Your channel can still be public and interested users can /KNOCK to let you know they want to enter

Cons

• An invite evades bans (if you invite a user that otherwise wouldn't be allowed to enter because of a +b channel-mode ban, he'll be allowed to enter.)

Unregistered channels

Unregistered channels only have access to the above commands. They'll also lose the +i mode when the channel is destroyed (for instance if the last user of the channel has left).

Extra cons for unregistered channels

• The +i mode will be lost when the channel is 'destroyed' because the last user left.
• The first user to enter does not need to be invited, because since +i is only set after the first user has entered. This can only be worked-around for registered channels using ChannelKeeper and MLOCK; see the next section for details)
• An operator always needs to be active to let people in (though there are ways for registered channels to work around this, see further sections)

Registered channels

Registered channels can add the +i channel-mode to the ChanServ MLOCK, so it will automatically be set (and not allowed to be unset) upon channel creation (when the first user enters the room). However, since no channel-modes are in effect when a channel has no users, the first user to enter the channel will be able to enter without being invited (since +i will be set after the first user has entered). This can be circumvented by requesting the ChannelKeeper to be added to your room to always keep it open.

Users with the appropriate rights can also use the /CHANSERV INVITE #channel command to invite themselves into the channel. See the following sections for details on what the appropriate rights are. For instance, to invite yourself to #ourStaffChannel, you can use:

 /CHANSERV INVITE #ourStaffChannel

This can only be used to invite yourself and not others.

Extra pros for registered channels

• You can add +i to the channel's ChanServ MLOCK setting.
• You can request a ChannelKeeper to keep the channel open so the +i mode is also effective for the first real user to enter the channel.
• CHANSERV INVITE can be used by users with the proper rights (see next sections for details)

Extra cons for registered channels

• Access levels need to be managed

Using xOP system

If you are using the xOP ChanServ user-management system (which is being used by default on newly registered channels), you can add people to the AOP list to allow them to invite themselves into the channel through ChanServ:

 /CHANSERV AOP #channel ADD nickname

For instance, to add JackDaniels to the AOP list of #ourStaffChannel, issue the command:

 /CHANSERV AOP #ourStaffChannel ADD JackDaniels

After which JackDaniels can issue:

 /CHANSERV INVITE #ourStaffChannel

to have himself invite into the channel by ChanServ (or it will appear to come from the channel's BotServ bot if BOTSERV SET SYMBIOSIS is set to ON and a BotServ bot has been assigned to the channel).

Extra cons for xOP

• The use of CHANSERV INVITE can only be granted to AOPs and above

Using ACCESS system

If you are using the ACCESS LEVELS system instead of the xOP system, you have a bit more control over who you'll allow access to the ChanServ INVITE command to invite themselves into the channel. For information on how/when to enable the |ACCESS LEVELS system by disabling the xOP system, please read the |main article on access levels.

Using the default access levels, you can add a user with the minimum of level 5 to your channel's ChanServ Access list:

 /CHANSERV ACCESS #channel ADD nickname level

For instance to add JackDaniels to the access list of channel #liquorStore with level 5, issue:

 /CHANSERV ACCESS #liquorStore ADD JackDaniels 5

You can also chose to lower/raise the required level for the Chanserv INVITE command by changing the minimum required level with:

 /CHANSERV LEVELS #channel SET INVITE minLevel

For instance to lower the minimum required access level for INVITE on #liquoreStore to 1, you can use:

 /CHANSERV LEVELS #liquoreStore SET INVITE 1

Now everyone with access level 1 or higher can use the INVITE command.

For instance:

 /CHANSERV ACCESS #liquorStore ADD JackDaniels 1

will allow JackDaniels to use /CHANSERV INVITE #liquorStore without giving him KICK/OP/etc rights (at least with the default chanserv levels settings)

Extra pros for ACCESS

• The use of CHANSERV INVITE can be granted to any minimum level you set for it.