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Verified Commit 65f3c7db authored by Torsten Grote's avatar Torsten Grote
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Incorporate feedback for 1.2 press release

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1 merge request!30Briar 1.2 release announcement
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aliases:
- /news/2019-briar-1.2-released-remote-contacts.html
date: 2019-10-01T00:00:00+02:00
title: 'Briar 1.2 released, allowing you to add people without meeting them'
title: 'Briar 1.2 released, contacts can now be added by exchanging links'
---
### Press Release
......@@ -10,34 +10,29 @@ title: 'Briar 1.2 released, allowing you to add people without meeting them'
##### October 1 2019
The Briar Project released version 1.2 of its Android app today.
This release allows users to add each other securely without needing to meet in person.
With earlier versions of the app,
people could already add someone remotely by getting an introduction from a mutual trusted contact.
However, most people found this inconvenient
and requested an easier and more direct way of adding contacts.
The developers hope that Briar will be useful for an even larger set of users now.
The new version provides a special link for each user
that two users need to exchange (over other channels) in order to add each other.
This release allows users to add each other securely by exchanging links.
Previously users needed to meet in person or ask a mutual contact to introduce them.
Most messenger apps find your contacts by uploading your phone's contact list to a server.
Since Briar is protecting metadata and contact relationships,
it does not use the phone's address book to harvest contacts.
To allow people to add contacts without leaking metadata,
behind the scenes - the app opens
a dedicated [Tor Onion Service](https://2019.www.torproject.org/docs/onion-services.html.en).
The onion service is only used to add this one single contact
by exchanging cryptographic keys and other information.
It will be discarded once the contact was added.
it instead uses the Tor network
to [connect directly](https://2019.www.torproject.org/docs/onion-services.html.en)
to the person you're adding,
without revealing your contact list to anyone.
Technical details can be found in the documentation of the
[Bramble Rendezvous Protocol](https://code.briarproject.org/briar/briar-spec/blob/master/protocols/BRP.md).
As with all other apps, when adding contacts remotely, there is the possibility
that a [man-in-the-middle attack](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man-in-the-middle_attack)
compromises the contact relationship.
Instead of adding the correct contact, the attacker is added thus defeating end-to-end encryption.
Users at risk of such attacks are advised to continue adding each other in person.
As with any other app,
users must still be careful to ensure that contact requests really come from the person
they appear to come from.
If two users are tricked into exchanging links with an attacker
when they think they're exchanging links with each other,
the attacker can [sit in the middle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man-in-the-middle_attack)
of their conversation,
silently reading or altering messages.
Users who are concerned about such attacks
should continue to use the old method of adding contacts in person for maximum assurance.
The design and and user testing of this new feature
was carried out by [Ura](https://www.ura.design).
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