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Off-the-Record (OTR) Messaging is a protocol for secure messaging that provides confidentiality, integrity, and forward secrecy. It is designed to be easy to use and to provide strong protection against a variety of attacks, including man-in-the-middle attacks and key recovery attacks.
OTR is a key exchange and encryption protocol that is designed for use in instant messaging and other real-time communication applications. It uses a combination of symmetric key encryption and public key encryption to provide strong security for communication.
To use OTR, two parties first establish a secure communication channel using a key exchange algorithm. A session key is then generated and used to encrypt and decrypt the data for the duration of the communication session. When the session is over, the session key is discarded, and a new session key is generated for the next communication session. This ensures that each communication session is protected by a unique session key, providing forward secrecy.
OTR is widely used in a variety of applications, including instant messaging, online chat, and secure communication. It is an important tool for protecting the confidentiality and integrity of communication and for preventing attacks that involve the compromise of long-term keys.