#Cryptocat security software#

But herein lies the heart of the problem, because the entire web security architecture rests upon the integrity of the embedded SSL certificate authority (CA) system.

Installing a Chrome or Firefox extension is a one-minute process in most cases and affords the user protection against a variety of threats.'This is a positive step especially if the original extension download is from a known, trusted source and/or verified against a strong cryptographic hash function.

'We understand that pushing this change strongly lowers immediate accessibility to those who don’t have the Chrome or Firefox extension installed, but we do believe that the security benefits outweigh the accessibility disadvantages in this case. Should convenient usability for a broad non-techie demographic trump increased tech-savvy security in a world of imperfect and varying threat models? Responding to feedback from the security and cryptography communities, developer Nadim Kobeissi justifies the modifications from web-based app to installed client in the Cryptocat blog,

#Cryptocat security software#

This major revision highlights an important and ongoing debate in the market for secure privacy-related software applications. Beta release date for version 2 is currently set for August 18th.

Announced over the weekend, encrypted chat service Cryptocat will soon be accessible only by downloading a local browser extension for Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome.