Bitmessage

{{short description|Peer-to-peer encrypted communication protocol}}

{{Infobox software

| name = PyBitmessage

| logo =

| logo caption =

| screenshot = 300px

| caption = PyBitmessage version 0.3.5

| collapsible =

| author = Jonathan Warren

| developer = Bitmessage Community

| released = {{Start date and age|df=yes|2012|11}}

| discontinued =

| latest release version = 0.6.3.2

| latest release date = {{release date and age|2018|02|13}}

| latest preview version =

| latest preview date =

| programming language = Python, C++ (POW function)

| operating system = Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD

| repo = {{URL|https://github.com/Bitmessage/PyBitmessage}}

| platform =

| size =

| language = English, Esperanto, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Norwegian, Arabic, Chinese

| genre = Instant messaging client

| license = MIT

| alexa =

| website = {{URL|https://bitmessage.org/}}

}}

Bitmessage is a decentralized, encrypted, peer-to-peer, trustless communications protocol that can be used by one person to send encrypted messages to another person, or to multiple subscribers.

Bitmessage was conceived by software developer Jonathan Warren, who based its design on the decentralized digital currency, Bitcoin. The software was released in November 2012 under the MIT license.{{cite news|title=Bitmessage's NSA-Proof E-Mail|author=Max Raskin| newspaper=Business Week |date=2013-06-27 |url=http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-06-27/bitmessages-nsa-proof-e-mail|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130629201803/http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-06-27/bitmessages-nsa-proof-e-mail|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 29, 2013}}

Bitmessage gained a reputation for being out of reach of warrantless wiretapping conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA), due to the decentralized nature of the protocol, and its encryption being difficult to crack. This prevents the accidental eavesdropping.{{Cite journal |last1=Shi |first1=Liucheng |last2=Guo |first2=Zhaozhong |last3=Xu |first3=Maozhi |date=2021 |title=Bitmessage Plus: A Blockchain-Based Communication Protocol With High Practicality |journal=IEEE Access |volume=9 |pages=21618–21626 |doi=10.1109/ACCESS.2021.3056135 |s2cid=231851942 |issn=2169-3536|doi-access=free |bibcode=2021IEEEA...921618S }} As a result, downloads of the Bitmessage program increased fivefold during June 2013, after news broke of classified email surveillance activities conducted by the NSA.

It achieves anonymity and privacy by relying on the blockchain flooding propagation mechanism and asymmetric encryption algorithm.

Bitmessage has also been mentioned as an experimental alternative to email by Popular Science{{cite news|title=What Are Your Options Now For Secure Email?|author=Dan Nosowitz| newspaper=Popular Science|date=2013-08-09|url=http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2013-08/what-are-your-options-secure-email}} and CNET.{{cite news|title=Gmail: You weren't really expecting privacy, were you?|author=Molly Wood|newspaper=CNet|date=2013-08-13|url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-31322_3-57598424-256/gmail-you-werent-really-expecting-privacy-were-you}}

Some ransomware programs instruct affected users to use Bitmessage to communicate with the attackers.{{cite web|url=http://www.ibtimes.com/chimera-ransomware-tries-turn-malware-victims-cybercriminals-2211638|title=Chimera Ransomware Tries To Turn Malware Victims Into Cybercriminals|date=2015-12-04|work=International Business Times}}

PyBitmessage version 0.6.2 (March 1, 2017) had a remote code execution vulnerability. It was fixed in version 0.6.3 (February 13, 2018).{{Cite web |title=CVE - CVE-2018-1000070 |url=https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2018-1000070 |access-date=2022-05-09 |website=cve.mitre.org}}{{Cite web |title=Fix message encoding bug · Bitmessage/PyBitmessage@3a8016d |url=https://github.com/Bitmessage/PyBitmessage/commit/3a8016d31f517775d226aa8b902480f4a3a148a9 |access-date=2022-05-09 |website=GitHub |language=en}}