hackint: the IRC network of the European hacker scene

hackint punches far above its size. With around 11,000 concurrent users it's mid-sized by headcount, but in influence it's one of the most significant networks running: it's the home of the European hacker community, tightly bound to the Chaos Computer Club and its events. If you're involved in security research, CTF, or the European hacker scene, this is where the channels are.

Connecting #

• Server: irc.hackint.org, port 6697 with TLS (insist on it here, of all places).
• Also reachable as a Tor onion service — fitting for the audience, and covered in security and privacy.
• Help: #hackint.

What it's for #

hackint exists to support hacker communities and events. In practice that means:

• Conference channels — CCC events (Congress, camps) and many other European hacker gatherings run their coordination and chat here.
• CTF teams — capture-the-flag teams use it for collaboration during and between competitions.
• Security research and tooling communities.

It runs proper services (so you can register your nick) and modern IRCd software, and the culture is technical, privacy-conscious, and event-driven — busiest, predictably, around major conferences.

Should you join? #

hackint is a destination network: you go because a specific community, event, or team is there, not as a general first-IRC stop (for that, start on Libera). But if your world overlaps with the CCC, the European security scene, or CTF, hackint is essential — and a good illustration that network size and network importance are very different measurements.