The Secure Internet Live Conferencing (SILC) protocol was designed as a secure replacement for Internet Relay Chat (IRC) that provides live conferencing and instant messaging capabilities with strong security features. SILC uses encryption and authentication to securely transmit messages through a server network. It supports chat rooms, private messaging, and file transfers using SSH. The SILC protocol specifications have been submitted to the IETF and client and server software implementations are available and maturing.