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Sat, 30 Jul 2011

/Security/skype: Skype Has Been Compromised

Skype can no longer be trusted. Truth is, because Skype is closed-source commercial software, they could never be fully trusted anyway, but now there is proof of their misdeeds. Canadian researchers were able to gain access to several misconfigured servers in China which contained millions of Skype text messages, along with the IDs of those who sent them[1][6].

For years now, Skype has published a Chinese version of their software on tom.com[4]. Apparently it is this version that is logging conversations and passing them on to the Chinese government. And even Skype themselves admit[3] that that includes conversations between a Chinese version of Skype and non-Chinese versions. At this point, there is no evidence that voice communications have also been compromised. But then, at this point, one must assume Skype's credibility as a provider of secure communications to be absolutely zero.

If you insist on using Skype, please do not download from tom.com. For text communications, may I suggest Pidgin[5]. I have heard of alternatives for secure voice communication, but have not yet had a chance to try them....

[1] http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/39577/108/
[2] http://www.chinapost.com.tw/business/asia/%20china/2008/10/04/177302/Skype’s-China.htm
[3] http://share.skype.com/sites/en/2008/10/answers_to_some_commonly_asked.html
[4] http://skype.tom.com/
[5] http://blog.langex.net/index.cgi/Security/IMchat/
[6] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/10/chinese-skype-client-hands-confidential-communicat

posted at: 08:54 | path: /Security/skype | permanent link to this entry

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Sat, 30 Jul 2011