On June 11, 2019, the developers of the Matrix.org Foundation announced the release of Matrix 1.0, a protocol for implementing a federated network built on the basis of a linear history of events (events) inside an acyclic graph (DAG). The most common use of the protocol is to implement message servers (e.g. Synapse server, Riot client) and "connect" other protocols to each other via bridges (e.g. libpurple implementation with support for XMPP, Telegram, Discord and IRC).
The main innovation (and prerequisite for use) of the Synapse 1.0 server - the implementation of the Matrix 1.0 protocol - is the use of a TLS certificate (free Let's Encrypt is also suitable) for the server domain, which ensures secure data transfer between servers participating in a federated network. Therefore, if you use a self-signed certificate for your home server, you must create a valid certificate - otherwise your server will stop interacting with other servers on the network.
Plans for the release of the Matrix 1.0 protocol were announced in Brussels in February 2019 at the largest Open Source conference FOSDAM 2019 as part of the work to implement Matrix.org Foundation technologies to provide the communication infrastructure of the French government.
Interestingly, two months ago, the matrix.org server was hacked, resulting in the need to recreate the matrix.org server database (losing the encrypted chat history stored on the servers) - as well as re-release the Riot Android app - due to a key leak and passwords. The hackers left recommendations for improving business processes and server security (related to vulnerabilities in Jenkins, a software development and testing automation platform). The "home" Matrix servers were not affected, with the exception of the temporary unavailability of "stickers" for user messages and other non-essential services.
The most popular Riot.im client (current version 1.2.1) - available both in desktop implementation and on most mobile platforms - is close to similar clients for Slack and Telegram in terms of convenience and reliability.
As I already , Synapse servers are quite undemanding to hardware - for a "home" server, you can use ARM ODROID-XU4 microcomputers for $49, and due to the appearance of virtual machines on ARM Graviton processors in the Amazon Cloud at the end of last year, you can set up an inexpensive reservation " home mini-datacenter" in the Amazon cloud.
News and additional information -
Source: habr.com