Do hackers use IRC?

You can chat with a hacker in real time in one of the many hacker chat rooms that pop up on nearly every Internet Relay Chat (IRC) network. ... Using IRC is a special skill in itself, and many hackers may get upset if you intrude on their chat rooms, so use care when exploring the different networks and chat rooms.

Is downloading from IRC safe?

Internet Relay Chat is actually incredibly insecure

I don't think IRC is in any way secure by default. Almost all servers utilize communication through plaintext. Your ISP can snoop on the contents easily. All of your messages, in general, are unencrypted.