Chaos Computer Club - recent events feed

CCC media team

Der Chaos Computer Club ist die größte europäische Hackervereinigung, und seit über 25 Jahren Vermittler im Spannungsfeld technischer und sozialer Entwicklungen.

Play

Open in

135 episodes
Avg 27 min

Episodes 135

Newest Oldest Longest

All20 Unplayed20 In progress0 Played0

Counted on this page — what you have heard stays on this device, so it is not something the list can be paged by.

Thursday · 24 min· Video
Closing (matrix-conf-2026)
Review and outlook Licensed to the public under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ about this event: https://cfp.2026.matrix.org/matrix-conference-2026/talk/ZB8TVD/
Thursday · 7 min· Video
Making Matrix Feel Like WhatsApp Without Centralizing It (matrix-conf-2026)
Gua is an experimental Matrix-based messenger built around a deliberately provocative question: can a federated, end-to-end encrypted network feel as simple as WhatsApp, and what do you have to "centralize" to get there? The project is an experiment built around the Matrix ecosystem. It builds on Element clients for iOS, Android, and Web, Synapse, and Matrix Authentication Service, with targeted Gua-specific forks where the user experience requires it. The goal is to keep the robustness of Matrix federation while hiding the complexity that usually scares off everyday users: homeserver choice, full Matrix IDs, server-specific login details, and federation topology. Gua is an early-stage architecture and product-design case study about making Matrix federation usable for people who would otherwise never adopt a federated messenger. Matrix gives us federation, interoperability, end-to-end encryption, and the possibility of communication networks that are not controlled by a single vendor. But the average user does not want to think about homeservers, server names, Matrix IDs, login methods, federation topology, or trust boundaries. In many countries, messaging products such as WhatsApp became dominant partly because onboarding is extremely simple: enter a phone number, receive a code, and start talking. Gua explores whether a Matrix-based messenger can offer that kind of simplicity without giving up the federated architecture underneath. The prototype uses Element-based clients, a Gua identity service, a fork of Matrix Authentication Service, and a new component called "Gua Resolver". The Resolver identifies where an account is hosted or selects a homeserver for registration. Authentication uses OpenID Connect, while messaging continues through the standard Matrix APIs and federation. Synapse itself remains unmodified. A brief demonstration introduces the user experience, followed by an architectural walkthrough showing how account routing and authentication work without placing the resolver in the message path. The second half addresses the trust model. In today’s deployment, one operator maintains the resolver, a signed list of eligible account-hosting servers, and the associated routing policy. The client authenticates the resolver over HTTPS but does not yet verify the signatures on its routing data. The proposed next step is a network of independently operated Gua nodes, each with its own identity provider, resolver, and signing authority. Signed records could be shared across operators and verified by clients, allowing organizations and communities to operate their own infrastructure while preserving a simple experience for users. This seven-minute talk uses Gua to explore the architectural and trust trade-offs involved in making Matrix feel familiar without reproducing central control. Licensed to the public under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ about this event: https://cfp.2026.matrix.org/matrix-conference-2026/talk/FEBUFM/
Thursday · 5 min· Video
When the Bridge Looks Like an Attacker: Building a Focus App on Matrix Instagram Bridges (matrix-conf-2026)
BreakFree is an app blocker with a texting layer built on Matrix, it block Instagram's Reels and feed, keep your DMs. Most blockers make you nuke the whole app and lose messaging too. BreakFree routes DMs through mautrix-meta / mautrix-instagram so texting survives. This talk is about what broke when a puppeting bridge went under thousands of non-technical users: unfamiliar-login flags, ban warnings from Instagram. Tead-receipt and reliability quirks, media storage, proxies, and the changes I made to the bridge and my Matrix setup to keep it standing. Plus the trust and privacy tradeoffs, and whether consumer-facing bridges can hold up as real infrastructure. The problem: why a focus app needs to keep messaging at all, and why "just open Instagram" defeats the purpose. Why Matrix: choosing puppeting bridges over alternatives, and how the app sits on top of mautrix-instagram / mautrix-meta. What broke: the collision with Meta's anti-abuse systems: unfamiliar-login flags, ban warnings reaching real users, read receipts, proxy and session-handling changes, and reliability under active pushback, scaling issues. trust and privacy tradeoffs of routing user sessions through a bridge, and what shipping to thousands of non-technical users revealed about whether consumer-facing bridges are durable. Licensed to the public under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ about this event: https://cfp.2026.matrix.org/matrix-conference-2026/talk/TDZNKE/
Thursday · 6 min· Video
Matrix as an App Backend: The perfect container for private structured Data (matrix-conf-2026)
Have you ever wanted to use Matrix as a backend for privately shared notes, workout tracking, expense management, task lists, or local LLM memory storage? Matrix is a surprisingly strong fit for these use cases. It offers end-to-end encryption, solid SDK support, multiple homeserver implementations, and effortless redundant storage — simply join a room with two accounts on different homeservers. All of this makes Matrix an ideal backend for apps that store personal data with owner-controlled collaboration and sharing. In this talk, I will present what requirements Matrix needs to fulfil to be the perfect container for this use case, where it currently falls short, and why the path forward is bright — requiring only minimal changes to the spec. This talk grew out of discussions at the Matrix Conference 2025. At the Matrix Community Summit 2026, those topics were revisited and iterated across multiple widget and integration workshops. Licensed to the public under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ about this event: https://cfp.2026.matrix.org/matrix-conference-2026/talk/HDSVJB/
Thursday · 23 min· Video
A faster, rustier Element Web (matrix-conf-2026)
At FOSDEM 2026, we presented our plan to move Element Web to be powered by the Rust SDK by rewriting incrementally into reusable components. In this talk, we'll share our progress and insights so far, showcasing our prototype version of the client based on the Matrix Rust SDK along with improvements this has allowed us to bring to the web and desktop version we all know. Licensed to the public under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ about this event: https://cfp.2026.matrix.org/matrix-conference-2026/talk/FAJUZD/
Thursday · 26 min· Video
Widgets Working Group (matrix-conf-2026)
Matrix Widgets have been part of the Matrix universe for years — But: What is a Widget? What is its definition, taxonomy and specification? Why Widgets makes sense in times of AI? Why Widgets make sense while matrix is getting more complicated on the client side? The newly founded Matrix Widgets Working Group of the Foundation is tackling this: aligning on definitions, mapping use cases, and building the foundation for a flourishing widget and app ecosystem across all Matrix clients. In this talk we share the Working Group's goals, current status, and latest results — and invite anybody to get involved. Matrix Widgets have long been an underutilised part of the ecosystem — powerful in theory, but held back by fragmented definitions, limited discoverability, and inconsistent client support. At Matrix Summit 2026, a group of community members came together to change that. The newly founded Matrix Widgets Working Group of the Matrix Foundation is taking on the challenge: establishing a shared taxonomy for what a "Widget" actually is, mapping user needs and use cases, and laying the groundwork for a thriving app ecosystem — including a widget catalogue or App Store that makes widgets accessible and trustworthy for all Matrix clients and users. In this talk, we will share: - Why we founded the WG and what problem we are solving - Our working definition of Matrix Widgets and how it differs from what exists today - The key topics the WG is working on: Discovery & Distribution, Developer Experience, Mobile Support, and more Current results, open questions, and how you can get involved Whether you are a client developer, a widget builder, or simply curious about the future of apps in Matrix — this talk is for you. Licensed to the public under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ about this event: https://cfp.2026.matrix.org/matrix-conference-2026/talk/ZAMKVT/
Thursday · 24 min· Video
Starting a Sovereign Chat Project in the Dutch Government: Early Lessons (matrix-conf-2026)
How do you start a sovereign, secure chat project in the public sector? Together with the Dutch Ministry of Defence, we are launching a Matrix-based solution to enable interoperable, archivable, and decentralized communication. In this talk, we share our early experiences, including the challenges of compliance, archiving, and adoption, as well as the lessons learned so far. Join us to explore how Matrix can support sovereign, future-proof communication for government organizations. Licensed to the public under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ about this event: https://cfp.2026.matrix.org/matrix-conference-2026/talk/KS3A8F/
Thursday · 26 min· Video
Homeserver Decentralisation Working Group Report (matrix-conf-2026)
Matrix was created with the idea of federation at the core, but nowadays there is matrix.org which contains a majority of the users of the wider matrix network, nullifying the benefits of it. This has since also started generating significant cost for The Matrix Foundation and lead to shutdown of some previously offered bridges. The Homeserver Decentralisation Working Group aims to improve the situation. One of the co-chairs of the Homeserver Decentralisation Working Group go on a little journey through the history of the WG, how it formed, what challenges it tries to master and what lies ahead. After a little introduction, you'll hear - about the events that lead to the creation of the Working Group, - how the initial members met, - what problems The Matrix Foundation was already facing, - what goals we have, - what challenges lie ahead of us, - our produced documents, governance proposals, tooling and general milestones achieved - offering a look into the future, on what we aim to do in the near future and what we hope the far future will look like. This talk is intended for Matrix contributors, homeserver administrators, community organizers, client developers and anyone interested in the governance and long-term sustainability of the Matrix ecosystem but also bigger organizations, that want to learn about the real benefits of federation and consider opening up their instance. _In case you don't know about the Working Group, you can find all our information [here](https://github.com/cleverer/matrix-wg-promote-alternative-homeservers) or ask in our [matrix room](https://matrix.to/#/%23homeserver-decentralisation:matrix.org)._ Licensed to the public under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ about this event: https://cfp.2026.matrix.org/matrix-conference-2026/talk/HKSYET/
Thursday · 22 min· Video
The Engineering Behind Matrix Notifications (matrix-conf-2026)
A notification seems simple: a message arrives, and the phone vibrates. But in the Matrix ecosystem, a single "ping" triggers a complex chain of events involving E2EE decryption, push rule evaluation, and state synchronization. This talk dives into the architectural challenges of implementing a robust, privacy-respecting, and energy-efficient notification engine in Trixnity. Licensed to the public under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ about this event: https://cfp.2026.matrix.org/matrix-conference-2026/talk/87JMFS/
Thursday · 22 min· Video
Common challenges for organizations when deploying [matrix] (matrix-conf-2026)
A vanilla matrix deployment already offers a lot options and is part of many digital sovereign communication solutions (and for good reasons). It can solve some of its tech dependency issues and can be a great alternative to Teams, Slack, WhatsApp etc. However, some organizational requirements still require more careful thought and planning than one might expect at first glance. This talk summarizes some of our experiences with often overlooked challenges, decisions with potentially far-reaching consequences and possible solutions/approaches when trying to implement a Matrix-Deployment for bigger organizations like schools, universities or other public organizations and similar projects. We take a quick look at the law, matrixID, administration and moderation, clients, videocall and possible useful extensions/widgets as well as what we did when the vanilla matrix wasnt enough. Among others things, we will take a (somewhat quick) look at: Users, Identity, Auth: - the MatrixID and its pitfalls (UUID vs human-readable) - IDP (OIDC), auth, SSO - when pre-populating users is needed - mapping of the organizational structures into matrix (spaces, rooms, using LDAP for room/member sync/provisioning) Law: GDPR and Friends - relevant GPDR articles (17,16,5,25,12/13) and its relevant homeserver configs - (Public) Federation or closed, archiving Administration and Moderation - retention/purge job settings - Useful admin tools (ketesa, synadm, matrix-wrench) - E2EE default settings and docs - room permissions and deopping (or missing room admins) - moderation (draupnir, community policy lists, antispam, actions) Infrastructure - Deployment mode (k8s, VM with ansible, ..) - synapse worker loadbalancing, scaling Clients, Video, Extensions - Requirements inform client choices (Videocalls? Extensions? Latex? etc..) - Videocalls requirements potentially useful extensions/widgets: - collaborative whiteboard (Neoboard), meetings organizer (NeoDateFix) - bots, integrations, services: - bots: AI/LLM bots (baibot), auto-translations, helpdesk, etc - webhooking (hookshot): alerts, jira-tickets, git notifications, feeds - bridges (mautrix) When matrix vanilla is not enough: quick overview of custom solutions - search injection, LDAP group syncs into rooms - problems with the matrix vanilla spec (deopping of chatrooms, invite permissions) - Usecase "Schulchat" (addressbook, tools for teachers, permissions): - IDM-provisioner, admin panel, communication matrix - active read receipts, abuse reports, simpler keys - custom fluffychat: PDF preview, polls Licensed to the public under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ about this event: https://cfp.2026.matrix.org/matrix-conference-2026/talk/37GLHX/
Thursday · 24 min· Video
Feature asymmetry in interoperable messaging - a barrier for mitigating network effects? (matrix-conf-2026)
This talk is about how feature asymmetries between interoperable messaging apps may disrupt users' online self-presentation, that is, how they choose what features to use with different groups of people to control the impression they form of them. Most users of messaging apps have their strategies to uphold some specific “persona”, if it is sending GIFs to add a humorous tone to the conversation, intentionally using dots at the end of messages to seem more intelligent or professional in front of their boss, or how they resonate when choosing a Snapchat avatar versus their profile picture for Teams. However, in interoperable messaging, some features are sometimes presented in different ways across clients. For example, one app may offer the sender to react to messages with an emoji, so they can reply to messages fast and with low effort, but the receiver app may attach animations to these reactions, bringing a more effortful and playful tone to the conversation. So how do these asymmetries affect users' self-presentation, when may they experience a conversation differently to how the receiver sees it? In this talk, I present a research study on how feature asymmetries across different protocols and clients may affect self-presentation and what this means for interoperability as a means for mitigating network effects. The study was done together with the _mInt research lab on user-centered messaging interoperability_ at Aalborg University. Licensed to the public under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ about this event: https://cfp.2026.matrix.org/matrix-conference-2026/talk/XTFYUT/
Thursday · 22 min· Video
Speedrun Client with the Matrix Rust SDK (matrix-conf-2026)
The Matrix Rust SDK is one of the most complete, mature, and performant SDK in the world. To illustrate our point, we will show off how to develop a Matrix CLI client from scratch with the Rust SDK live on stage, step by step, up to having a fully functional client, with a room list, a timeline, the ability to send and to receive messages, along with full end-to-end encryption support. The Matrix Rust SDK is one of the most complete SDK in the world. It's becoming really mature: more and more clients are relying on it due to its great features, stability, and performance. Maybe you want to give it a try for your own great client? To illustrate our point, we demonstrate how to develop a Matrix CLI client from scratch with the Rust SDK, step by step, up to having a fully functional client, with a room list, a timeline, the ability to send and to receive messages, along with full end-to-end encryption support. We will use the following components: `SyncService`, `RoomListService`, `Timeline`, `SendQueue`, `EventCache` and so on. Licensed to the public under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ about this event: https://cfp.2026.matrix.org/matrix-conference-2026/talk/BQUNNE/
Thursday · 27 min· Video
Towards a Post-Quantum Matrix Protocol: A Hybrid Design Adapted to the Brazilian Scenario (matrix-conf-2026)
This presentation outlines the development experience of a post-quantum cryptography (PQC) extension for the vodozemac library, tailored for its use in MSG GOV, a Matrix-powered E2EE messenger for the Brazilian federal government. Our hybrid design is adapted to support multiple PQC algorithms, including ML-KEM and Brazil's state-mandated cryptography. The talk details the practical software engineering challenges associated with the hybrid integration of flexible PQC features into the Matrix protocol, extending both the key agreement and the Double Ratchet algorithm while preserving compatibility. Licensed to the public under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ about this event: https://cfp.2026.matrix.org/matrix-conference-2026/talk/TZ8ZYX/
Thursday · 25 min· Video
Sustainable Digital Sovereignty (matrix-conf-2026)
Digital Sovereignty is on every lips, however whilst the tech is here, we have yet to find a financially sustainable solution to it. The tragedy of the commons of open source is not new, but we’ve got to the point of needing to solve it if we really want organisations to be sovereign and resilient whilst use secure and polished products. We all know (or will know by the end of the conference!) that Matrix is the ideal answer for any organisation looking to break free from vendor lock-in for their communications, not only because of its intrinsic properties of decentralisation and end-to-end encryption, but because it is an open standard. An open standard brings neutrality and an ecosystem which allows multiple vendors to thrive, creating a healthy competition to raise the bar of product quality and target specific markets. This makes Matrix the perfect microcosm to get concrete examples on how digital sovereignty can be preserved in a financially sustainable manner in order to build products which can compete with the vendor-locked incumbents: from the governance of the standard to the various vendors via the open source community, this talk will use concrete examples to highlight the best and most efficient practices to contribute back for everyone’s benefit. Licensed to the public under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ about this event: https://cfp.2026.matrix.org/matrix-conference-2026/talk/UZT7QE/
Thursday · 24 min· Video
What's New in the Matrix Rust SDK (matrix-conf-2026)
The Matrix Rust SDK has grown from an experimental client SDK into the foundation that powers Element X and other Matrix applications. Along the way, it has gained support for major Matrix features while tackling some interesting engineering challenges. In this talk, we'll explore recent additions to the SDK, including threads, spaces, QR code login, shared encrypted history, migration from Element Classic to Element X, and the centralized redecryption mechanism. We'll look at the problems these features were designed to solve, the architectural decisions behind them, and some of the lessons learned along the way. This talk is aimed at Matrix developers and contributors who are interested in the evolution of the Matrix Rust SDK. The focus will be on the design and implementation behind several major features that have recently landed in the SDK. Licensed to the public under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ about this event: https://cfp.2026.matrix.org/matrix-conference-2026/talk/QEQAZY/
Thursday · 27 min· Video
Towards a Post-Quantum Matrix Protocol: A Hybrid Design Adapted to the Brazilian Scenario (matrix-conf-2026)
This presentation outlines the development experience of a post-quantum cryptography (PQC) extension for the vodozemac library, tailored for its use in MSG GOV, a Matrix-powered E2EE messenger for the Brazilian federal government. Our hybrid design is adapted to support multiple PQC algorithms, including ML-KEM and Brazil's state-mandated cryptography. The talk details the practical software engineering challenges associated with the hybrid integration of flexible PQC features into the Matrix protocol, extending both the key agreement and the Double Ratchet algorithm while preserving compatibility. Licensed to the public under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ about this event: https://cfp.2026.matrix.org/matrix-conference-2026/talk/TZ8ZYX/
Thursday · 25 min· Video
NI2CE network effects in a voluntary adoption paradigm (matrix-conf-2026)
Convincing users to move to NI2CE messenger and move away from the tools they are used to working with remains an issue. I would like to share my thoughts and discuss how other organisations where the use of Matrix messengers is optional deal with this. NI2CE is a messenger solution that we deployed for NATO users to provide a safer and more private alternative for the widespread use of Whatsapp and Signal. The use of NI2CE is optional as users need to install it on a personal device for mobile use. I had hoped that reaching a critical mass of users would increase adoption and lead to a quick growth of users. This has not materialized unfortunately. In this talk, I would like to show how we tried to convince users to migrate and would like to get the points of view of other organisations that might deal with this. Licensed to the public under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ about this event: https://cfp.2026.matrix.org/matrix-conference-2026/talk/DFBNCV/
Thursday · 24 min· Video
Matrix Wrench - an admin tool for operators and community managers (matrix-conf-2026)
Are you operating a large server, bridge or bot? Are you managing lots of spaces or rooms? Do you sometimes need to modify rooms outside of your regular account? Try Matrix Wrench. It's is a powerful, open-source web app to view and edit room states. It works with access tokens from users and AppServices. In my time at the Matrix.org bridges team, I had worked on a few of the largest bridges operated at the time. Routine tasks included supporting the community leaders, e.g. when room admins had made mistakes or became inactive. With the administrator role of the bridge bot, we we're able to modify the room state, revoke rights and promote new community leaders to administrators. What started as a lot of manual, error-prone work in the terminal with curl became a web app written for the job. It allowed us as operators and community managers to tweak the rooms easier and faster. Wrong permissions? View them. Fix them. Wrong room visibility? Easy fix. Lots of unwanted accounts? Kick them at once. Migrate a community to a new room? Copy the state and members you want. Matrix Wrench is closely built around the Matrix API endpoint. Most buttons only fire one network request. Many actions have simple forms, so you don't need to look up the Matrix Spec in a hurry. And if you want to replicate any of the actions in Matrix Wrench, e.g. for an automated script, you can have a look at its Network Manager which shows a curl command for all performed requests. Licensed to the public under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ about this event: https://cfp.2026.matrix.org/matrix-conference-2026/talk/RAJEHG/
Thursday · 25 min· Video
NI2CE network effects in a voluntary adoption paradigm (matrix-conf-2026)
Convincing users to move to NI2CE messenger and move away from the tools they are used to working with remains an issue. I would like to share my thoughts and discuss how other organisations where the use of Matrix messengers is optional deal with this. NI2CE is a messenger solution that we deployed for NATO users to provide a safer and more private alternative for the widespread use of Whatsapp and Signal. The use of NI2CE is optional as users need to install it on a personal device for mobile use. I had hoped that reaching a critical mass of users would increase adoption and lead to a quick growth of users. This has not materialized unfortunately. In this talk, I would like to show how we tried to convince users to migrate and would like to get the points of view of other organisations that might deal with this. Licensed to the public under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ about this event: https://cfp.2026.matrix.org/matrix-conference-2026/talk/DFBNCV/
Thursday · 25 min· Video
When to Change the Locks in Your Matrix (matrix-conf-2026)
When you operate communication infrastructure for one of Europe's largest defense organizations, "good enough" is never good enough. At BWI, we do not just run Matrix. We trust in the idea behind it: that secure, open communication should be a public good. When we introduced Matrix into the Bundeswehr, we made a deliberate decision: everything, always, end-to-end encrypted. No exceptions, no fallbacks. That single switch revealed the hard problems. Olm and Megolm, built on the Signal Protocol, are the gold standard of modern encryption, but they were not designed for large rooms with thousands of participants at government scale. Those cracks are what brought us to MLS, the IETF standard built for exactly those harder problems: scalable group key management, stronger forward secrecy, post-compromise security. MLS does not just change how keys are managed. It changes how little the server needs to know. And that is not a side effect. It is a design goal. The less the server knows, the less it can leak, and required by VS-AP0024, the BSI guidance we operate under. That settled the what. Rust settles the how. Not as a language choice, but as the foundation that makes formal verification of the functional core possible, and memory safety everywhere else a given. We wrote MSC2546 ourselves, defining how MLS integrates into the Matrix protocol at the spec level. Now we are ready to share what happened next. In this talk, Timm and David from BWI will show you what it takes to bring MLS into a real production stack: what changes in the SDK, what it means for backend modules, and how Rust becomes the common thread that holds it all together. Expect no polished success story. Expect honest engineering: what was built, where it broke, and what it cost. And at the end, the first thing they shipped with it. A new way to have a conversation that leaves no trace. Come find out when to change the locks. Join our journey. Licensed to the public under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ about this event: https://cfp.2026.matrix.org/matrix-conference-2026/talk/8ZCYUQ/

Showing 1–20 of 135 episodes