Cryptographic IRC?

cylent asks: "I have a close-knit group of acquaintances that like to communicate with each other often. Public IRC servers are fine for chit-chat, although for more in-depth discussions a more secure form of communication is preferred. I'm wondering what GPL'd software exists to provide for a secure form of realtime multi-party communication. Are there any IRC servers/clients that support any form of public key cryptography? Blowfish? 3DES? Are there any other proprietary "chat" programs available with a forte in cryptography?"

Comments

SSH

[mind21_98]

How about having everyone use the port forwarding features of SSH? Everyone could use SSH to log into a server with IRC on it.

For example:

1. Set up SSH config file with:
local port: 6667
remote host: [change to host with IRC server]
remote port: 6667)

2. Start SSH and log into the server with it. You should see a shell prompt.

3. Have BitchX, X-Chat or some other IRC client connect to 127.0.0.1 port 6667.

Tada! Instant security.