Distance Communication Skills: Skype Secrets

     Recent research conducted by the Polytechnic Institute of New York University has discovered some major glitches in Skype's privacy settings that could potentially expose the location and movements of Skype's entire database which consists of a half-billion users world-wide.

  Hackers can steal IP addresses easily by making partial calls to any skype user. The call does not go through and the target would have no idea the call was ever recieved. Hackers can gain access to your personal files, downloads, movements and physical address. The differentail concern with this particular glitch is that ANY person can gain access to ANY Skype user, the hacker does not have to be a contact to make partial calls. Skype typically runs when a user's computer is in use, regardless of whether the user is using their program or not.

 A blog by social media savvy Karen A. Frenkel quotes Skype’s Chief Information Security Officer, saying: "We value the privacy of our users and are committed to making our products as secure as possible. Just as with typical internet communications software, Skype users who are connected may be able to determine each other’s IP address. Through research and development, we will continue to make advances in this area and improvements to our software."

I don't know about you, but I feel much better. Oh wait...

  Extremists like Keith Ross, a researcher looking into the problem at NYU, points out the potential for terrorist groups to take advantage of the glitch and track targets. Targets at risk could include goverment officials, or employees of target organizations.

Read more at http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/10/24/skype-security-flaw-potential-terrorist-threat-nyu-professor-says/