Email me at Mike Emery. All financial contributions are cheerfully accepted. If you want to keep it private, use my PGP Key. Home Page
Skype is a system that uses computers as
telephones working over the Internet. It has built in security with at least one
engineer's approval. Given that he is working for the company sceptics will not
readily take his word for it. But his paper is a starting point and the man is
in the business. Skype was bought by
Microsoft in 2011 which is not a good sign. An
alternative system costs money but might be better - see
Vonage
PS Now in 2015 the
National Security Agency are proven liars who have
perverted all systems. They were exposed by Edward
Snowden, to their intense irritation. They wanted vengeance; they have
failed so far.
Tom Berson of Anagram Laboratories examines the encryption used by Skype
Mr Berson had total access to the Skype system source code and its engineers. He says it looks good and there are no obvious back doors. Being based in Latvia might make them less vulnerable to pressure from the CIA and other criminal organizations.
Skype calls nearly impossible for NSA to intercept
QUOTE
If these calls are being made over Skype the conversations are being encrypted by 256-bit long Skype encryption keys are a length that at least in theory, would take a literal eternity to crack. The National Security Agency may not be able to intercept them. Or even know that they are going on. That’s according to Bruce Schneier, chief technology officer at Counterpane Internet Security.
UNQUOTE
Bruce Schneier is the business and thoroughly competent. The writer of the article is a twerp. And of course the NSA et al are the enemy.
Skype Security Breach In China
QUOTE
Most Chinese who use Skype – or at least its Chinese version TOM-Skype – were thrilled to find a way to make free phone calls. There were also a few who were delighted to find a way to chat while circumventing the all-seeing eye of the state security. But today those few were scurrying to find a new way to communicate after it emerged that Skype’s Chinese partner had been archiving politically sensitive words and messages – and possibly even the identities of those whose conversations could be deemed sensitive......... The latest incident in which a US firm has become embroiled in controversy over monitoring of its operations in China was revealed by Citizen Lab, a group of computer security experts at the University of Toronto. It said this week that TOM Online was spying on TOM-Skype users in China and collecting messages with specific keywords..........Skype, which prides itself on the security of its system, issued an apology and said the breach had now been fixed. Josh Silverman, president of the US online text message and voice service, issued a statement of concern. "It was our understanding that it was not TOM's protocol to upload and store chat messages with certain keywords, and we are now inquiring with TOM to find out why the protocol changed."
UNQUOTE
Errare humanum est. Skype's programmers are human too.
Skype's Back Door
QUOTE
"According to reports, there may be a back door built into Skype, which allows connections to be bugged. The company has declined to expressly deny the allegations. At a meeting with representatives of ISPs and the Austrian regulator on lawful interception of IP based services held on 25th June, high-ranking officials at the Austrian interior ministry revealed that it is not a problem for them to listen in on Skype conversations."
UNQUOTE
Austrian apparatchiks leaned on Skype and others. It worked. They got in. Will other fascist governments be far behind? Believe it if you want.
Skype Back Door Released Into The Wild
QUOTE
The source code for a Windows Trojan capable of recording Skype calls as MP3 files has been released in a move that spells bad news for VoIP confidentiality.Swiss software developer Ruben Unteregger published the source code for a package capable of eavesdropping on encrypted Skype VoIP conversations on his website Megapanzer.com. Unteregger, who claims he developed the software while working for ERA IT Solutions, reportedly published the code in order shed light on a dark subject and to spur the development of security defences.
UNQUOTE
Surprising? No. Disappointing? Yes.
Skype and VoIP Beat Secret Squirrel [ 31 January 2008 ]
QUOTE
The head of the UK government's secret electronic spying and code breaking agency, GCHQ, has said that his organisation's ability to intercept conversations and messages is seriously undermined by internet-protocol (IP) communications. The digital spook's comments may come as a blow to British and European politicians who have sworn to eradicate terrorism from the internet...........
The section on GCHQ touches on the problems caused for government wire tappers by IP networks:
One of the greatest challenges for GCHQ is to maintain its intercept capability in the face of rapidly evolving communications technology. This relates in particular to the growth in internet-based communications and voice over internet telephony.
It seems that it was much easier to tap old-school phone calls, faxes and so on as they tended to move through networks by routes which were easy to predict. Sir David Pepper, boss of GCHQ, briefed the ISC.
Read the whole ISC report and the government's responses here.
*MI5
isn't the proper
name. Officially the UK's domestic spooks are called the Security
Service, but nobody wants to refer to a secret internal-security body
by the initials "SS". [ SS
>>>
Schutzstaffel - one of Adolf's outfits ]
UNQUOTE
When you have a corrupt government use Skype.
Simple isn't it? Yes and it's free.
PS Do you need
security? See Phone Tapping
Mobile Phone Encryption Is TOTALLY Compromised
QUOTE
The SecPro GSM Passive Cellular Interceptor is the very best GSM Cellular
Interceptor off-air system available in the world today.
It has features never before seen in any passive intercept system. It is a
completely STEALTH - invisible and non-detectable, high performance and
upgradeable, multi-channel GSM Cellular Intercept and logging (recording)
system.
It is not only designed to receive and process GSM digital cellular signals, but
it also has a built in sophisticated RF triangulation locator with near GPS
accuracy.....
The SecPro Cell Interceptor system intercepts GSM phones operating on both the
900MHz and also on 1800/1900MHz bands.
It intercepts both, the base station and the mobile station at the same time,
independently. The system will record automatically or manually all of the
conversations between the two targeted phones simultaneously, and save them to a
standard WAV file.
UNQUOTE
They sell to government outfits which boils down to government
sanctioned criminals. Others will also get them if they want.
Phones Tapped At The Rate Of 1,000 a Day [ 29 January 2008 ]
QUOTE
Britain is in danger of becoming a "surveillance state" as authorities including councils launch bugging operations against 1,000 people a day........ The report,.........; has fuelled fears that Britain is becoming a state where private communications are routinely monitored. It also found that more than 1,000 of the bugging operations were flawed. In some cases, the phones of innocent people were tapped simply because of administrative errors.
UNQUOTE
Blair is grossly corrupt. He has done more to destroy liberty than any other prime minister. That ugly cow he takes to bed is part of it too.
Skype crypto stumps German cops [ 24 November 2007 ]
QUOTE
German police have expressed frustration about their inability to decipher the encryption used by Skype in order to tap into the VoIP calls of suspected terrorists...... Lawful interception (or wiretapping) of telephone calls has happened since before the time of rotary phones [ but was fairly rare - Editor ]..... VoIP [ Voice over Internet Protocol ] services provided by software firms independent of ISPs complicate this picture.
UNQUOTE
But they can break in using Trojans at the source. Just assume that all communications are compromised unless you are talking to someone face to face in a randomly chosen field.
Errors & omissions,
broken links, cock ups, over-emphasis, malice [ real or imaginary ] or whatever;
if you find any I am open to comment.
Email me at Mike
Emery.
All financial contributions are cheerfully accepted. If you want to keep it
private, use my PGP Key.
Home Page
Updated on Monday, 15 July 2019 23:35:35