Is Skype safe?
Recently, speculation about the safety of the famous Skype voice, video and audio messaging client has become more frequent. According to the latest reports (2008), a hole was found in the program that allows you to intercept outgoing and incoming connections. The company itself calls such allegations unfounded. However, at a meeting of representatives of Internet providers and the Austrian office of legal wiretapping services, held on June 25, high-ranking officials in the Austrian government said that interception of Skype connections was not a problem for them.
This was also confirmed by a number of other participants present at the meeting. Skype declined to comment on this issue, nor did it answer the question whether there are any clients that allow you to intercept encrypted traffic. However, rumors about the existence of a special listening device or a set of devices that Skype is offering to buy to interested states are multiplying on the Web.
The reason for the rumors lies in the fact that Skype does not disclose the specifications of the protocol and the principles of the client, so the company is responsible for encrypting millions of conversations around the world, which is fundamentally dissatisfied with representatives from serious business circles.
Last month, Austrian provider ORF announced that Austrian police were able to listen on Skype connections. Government officials this time limited themselves to general comments.
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Most interestingly, independent technical experts were not present at the aforementioned meeting, the list of participants included lawyers, representatives of governing bodies and interested government organizations. They demanded from Austrian providers to provide a comprehensive solution for filtering network traffic, which should go through specially created data centers. In order to facilitate filtering, Austrian providers must provide their customers with exclusively static IP.
Naturally, these efforts are justified by the increased threat from terrorists and the increasing activity of criminal organizations using encrypted protocols, including Skype, for communication and planning of criminal activities.
It is already known that the two leading Austrian providers have already succumbed to pressure from the authorities. Special devices for intercepting encrypted traffic have already been installed and are operational.
It is easy to guess that the Austrian experience is now actively adopted by other countries, and it is not known whether the Austrians are pioneers.
This was also confirmed by a number of other participants present at the meeting. Skype declined to comment on this issue, nor did it answer the question whether there are any clients that allow you to intercept encrypted traffic. However, rumors about the existence of a special listening device or a set of devices that Skype is offering to buy to interested states are multiplying on the Web.
The reason for the rumors lies in the fact that Skype does not disclose the specifications of the protocol and the principles of the client, so the company is responsible for encrypting millions of conversations around the world, which is fundamentally dissatisfied with representatives from serious business circles.
Last month, Austrian provider ORF announced that Austrian police were able to listen on Skype connections. Government officials this time limited themselves to general comments.
')
Most interestingly, independent technical experts were not present at the aforementioned meeting, the list of participants included lawyers, representatives of governing bodies and interested government organizations. They demanded from Austrian providers to provide a comprehensive solution for filtering network traffic, which should go through specially created data centers. In order to facilitate filtering, Austrian providers must provide their customers with exclusively static IP.
Naturally, these efforts are justified by the increased threat from terrorists and the increasing activity of criminal organizations using encrypted protocols, including Skype, for communication and planning of criminal activities.
It is already known that the two leading Austrian providers have already succumbed to pressure from the authorities. Special devices for intercepting encrypted traffic have already been installed and are operational.
It is easy to guess that the Austrian experience is now actively adopted by other countries, and it is not known whether the Austrians are pioneers.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/31679/
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