Social networking the FOSS way
The Email Upgrade
© Lead Image © nasirkhan, 123RF.com
Forget email: Bitmessage harnesses the power of public key cryptography to create a decentralized, trustless P2P communications protocol. Messages are virtually impossible to spoof or tap.
Users of the pseudonymous cryptocurrency Bitcoin will know that its strength lies in a blockchain – a decentralized ledger of transactions shared across thousands of computers. Since transactions are confirmed several times, it is highly unfeasible for anyone to forge an entry in the blockchain to give themselves a digital wagonload of Bitcoins. Nor is it very easy to steal coins from another user's digital wallet without their digital private key [1].
Like Bitcoin, Bitmessage uses a decentralized peer-to-peer (P2P) protocol. Instead of using a blockchain to record transactions, however, Bitmessage uses complex mathematics to validate and encrypt messages. In simplest terms Bitmessage works as a vast e-mail server, albeit one that is not controlled from any one central point [2].
Developer Jonathan Warren's official whitepaper on Bitmessage [3] goes into considerable detail on how this is achieved. As an average Linux user, it's sufficient to know that each user is assigned a virtual "address" (e.g., BM-2cSpVFB6cDxLLGUeLRy3pZTwYsujmpRzP7) that can be used to send and receive messages. Bitmessage users can have one or a number of these addresses (Figure 1).
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Bugs Found in sudo
Two critical flaws allow users to gain access to root privileges.
-
Fedora Continues 32-Bit Support
In a move that should come as a relief to some portions of the Linux community, Fedora will continue supporting 32-bit architecture.
-
Linux Kernel 6.17 Drops bcachefs
After a clash over some late fixes and disagreements between bcachefs's lead developer and Linus Torvalds, bachefs is out.
-
ONLYOFFICE v9 Embraces AI
Like nearly all office suites on the market (except LibreOffice), ONLYOFFICE has decided to go the AI route.
-
Two Local Privilege Escalation Flaws Discovered in Linux
Qualys researchers have discovered two local privilege escalation vulnerabilities that allow hackers to gain root privileges on major Linux distributions.
-
New TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro Powered by AMD Ryzen AI 300
The TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen10 offers serious power that is ready for your business, development, or entertainment needs.
-
LibreOffice Tested as Possible Office 365 Alternative
Another major organization has decided to test the possibility of migrating from Microsoft's Office 365 to LibreOffice.
-
Linux Mint 20 Reaches EOL
With Linux Mint 20 at its end of life, the time has arrived to upgrade to Linux Mint 22.
-
TuxCare Announces Support for AlmaLinux 9.2
Thanks to TuxCare, AlmaLinux 9.2 (and soon version 9.6) now enjoys years of ongoing patching and compliance.
-
Go-Based Botnet Attacking IoT Devices
Using an SSH credential brute-force attack, the Go-based PumaBot is exploiting IoT devices everywhere.