Skype under attack.

[Объединенное Детективное Бюро]

Skype under attack. "GHN". The European agency Eurojust intends to play a leading role in helping the police and prosecution authorities supervision in all European countries to obtain the technological and legal ability to intercept telephone conversations on the Internet, which are carried out using the popular Internet telephony program “Skype”, reports “GHN” with reference to UKRINFORM. According to the European publication EUOBSERVER, so far Skype - the Danish-Swedish project created by the Estonian programmer and sold to the E-Bay network in 2005 - was considered to be the only Internet system inaccessible to intelligence agencies. This "stability" of "Skype" is simply explained - today it is used by more than 350 million users, the call intensity is very high, which greatly complicates any control measures. Eurojust officials acknowledge that the task will be challenging, both technologically and legally. Today in the EU countries there are about 30 different legal systems, therefore, the harmonization of listening procedures between them will continue for at least several months. At the same time, the wiretapping will be targeted, involving suspects in criminal activities or terrorism as part of criminal investigations, and only with the approval of the prosecution authorities. Therefore, Eurojust is convinced that law-abiding users of the system and their privacy will not suffer from innovation. Immediately after the appearance of the first messages of Eurojust's intentions, the Skype official representative issued a statement expressing regret over the sole actions of Eurojust, which, in forming its own intentions, did not consider it necessary to discuss the problem directly with the communication program managers. The statement emphasizes that "Skype" works with law enforcement agencies wherever possible from a legal and technological point of view. At the same time, according to Eurojust, and so far, Skype has refused to provide national law enforcement agencies of European countries with access codes to their own network security systems. Source - [url = http: //ghn.ge/] https://ghn.ge/ [/ url].

 

[Матушкин Андрей Николаевич]

It's a shame that skype was not safe.

 

[Объединенное Детективное Бюро]

In Russia, as in most countries, Skype is illegal. Skype is illegal. In Russia, as in most countries, Skype is illegal. This does not prevent the company from counting on doubling its revenue in 2010 by attracting mobile network subscribers. The Big Three of Russian operators are already suffering losses and are preparing a counteroffensive. Russia was the first country visited by Skype CEO in the EMEA region Russ Shaw after his appointment to this post in December 2009. Earlier, Shaw worked as the director of innovation for the mobile operator O2. Now his task is to make Skype mobile. Most users consider Skype a program that allows you to make phone calls through your computer. In fact, the service is compatible with both a home cordless phone, and with a mobile, and even with a Sony PlayStation. The main thing is that the device is in range of a 3G cellular network or wireless Internet access. And if it is equipped with a camera, then you can make video calls. Mostly due to owners of mobile phones, Skype intends in 2010 to double its revenue from the current $ 558 million to $ 1 billion. The show does not say how many of these should bring our country. But assures that for Skype, Russia is one of the fastest growing markets in the world in terms of number of users. An incognito from Luxembourg Russ Shaw holds meetings sitting on a leather sofa at the MMD PR agency. Skype has no office in Russia and most likely will not. No advertising. The show hired an agency not to promote services on the market, but to track information about Skype in local media. It is not a matter of saving, although the business model of the company, which has only two offices - in Luxembourg and London, is built on this. As in most other countries, Skype’s activities are outside the legal field in Russia. Formally, the company does not conduct business here. The Russians use a foreign service, downloading the program from a server located in London. Then Skype only converts voice into digital data using IP-telephony technology. People make calls on their own via the Internet or 3G networks belonging to Russian telecom operators. Meanwhile, according to Russian laws, all calls must go through voice communication channels, and in the case of long-distance or international calls, also through a chain of intermediary operators. According to officials, it is necessary to have a person responsible for the quality of communication at every stage. And it’s easier for special services to listen to traffic that can be easily decrypted. Finally, the current system is a good source of income. So, European 3G operators spent $ 130 billion on 3G licenses. They invest no less impressive amounts in the deployment of the networks themselves. In 2008, only Megafon spent $ 250 million on 3G stations. For traditional operators, expenses are more than offset by high tariffs on which taxes are paid. So the authorities are interested in the existing scheme. Skype costs, by contrast, are minimal. The company does not build its networks. All its equipment is servers, where the data that users leave about themselves during registration is recorded: name, surname, email address, phone number, etc. Skype is promoted only on the Web, and not in the most expensive way, for example, through the contextual service Google adsense ads or in-house inventory. Instead of massive advertising, the company attracts new customers with ultra-low tariffs. Software installation and conversations between Skype users are generally free. The company makes money on calls of its users to landlines and mobile phones where there is no Skype. This is only 10% of the total traffic. But here, the operator’s tariffs are often not comparable with the tariffs of ordinary signalmen. For the possibility of unlimited calling in a huge number of cities around the world, Skype charges only $ 12.95 per month. A minute of conversation from a MTS phone number in American cellular networks costs 149 rubles, that is, almost $ 5, and VimpelCom costs 129 rubles. Zoom Marginals and tops At the end of 2009, a certain Rob lived in the Tabernas desert in southern Spain, receiving Skype calls from around the world. To do this, the company installed a telephone box next to his tent. A year earlier, Rebecca from Australia traveled around the world, staying in touch thanks to Skype. The company launched individual sites for global promotions and spoke about them in a blog on its portal. The characters of Skype ads are marginalized compared to the active user of international communications, as their mobile operators see them. Usually this is a successful top manager. “We do not consider ourselves competitors of mobile operators,” Shaw explains. “We want to attract subscribers who did not call at all or did not call very much. Moreover, we can effectively cooperate.” As an example, Shaw refers to the British operator Three, which in 2007 released an inexpensive mobile phone with Skype preinstalled. However, in two years Three sold just 500 thousand of such phones, while the total number of its subscribers in nine countries is 25.3 million. In February, Skype entered into an agreement with the American mobile operator Verizon Wireless. Subscribers of the latter using smartphones will be able to call Skype numbers for free, and abroad - for 2 cents per minute. However, in most cases, operators take Skype hostility. And there is a reason. Skype was created by two Swedish programmers - Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis - seven years ago, and now has become the largest telecom operator in the world. In the fall of 2009, eBay, which owned Skype, sold a 65% stake in the company to a consortium of investors for $ 1.9 billion. 600 million people were registered on Skype, almost a tenth of the world's population. At peak hours, the number of users reaches 20 million. According to the latest TeleGeography, the growth in international telephone traffic has slowed. If over the past 25 years it has grown by 15% per year, in 2009 it increased by only 8%. Skype, by contrast, only won in the crisis. Last year, its traffic jumped 63%. The company controls 8% of global telephone traffic (taking into account both analog and mobile communications, as well as voice over the Internet). In a crisis, many companies cut costs, and users save on communications. For example, at Transaero, all the technical staff was transferred to Skype. “This has had a positive effect on handling,” Transaero CEO Olga Pleshakova does not hide her satisfaction. “When a technician is on a business trip to the United States to repair an aircraft, you can see via Skype where he is doing what.” Communication is carried out through a video call. $ 2k - the cheapest Samsung TV with Skype video calling support will cost so much. LG and Panasonic are planning to release such televisions. Network threat “Illegal” signalman Russ Shaw has taken a convenient position without opening a Skype office in Russia. The growing popularity of Skype is causing only negative emotions among signalmen. In July 2009, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs held a meeting initiated by Transtelecom President Sergei Lipatov. Influential telecom players have proposed amendments to the law to prohibit Skype, ICQ and other programs for Internet connection. In 2006, similar lobbying actions led to the prohibition of the work of the so-called IP-telephony card operators. Unlike Skype, they had licenses for activities in Russia, but by-laws that "developed" the law on communications forced them to obtain additional licenses and build networks - or leave the market. This led to a redistribution in the "card" segment: for example, Zebra Telecom, a major IP telephony operator, was absorbed by Rostelecom, which had the required licenses and networks. However, tabooing the free Internet programs Skype and ICQ will be more difficult. At the very least, Russian lobbyists have not yet taken concrete actions with respect to the newly emerging competitors. Meanwhile, the "mobilization" of Skype has received good acceleration. Almost simultaneously with the arrival of the Russ Show in Skype, it became known about the imminent holding of regional tenders for the development of Wi-Fi networks in Russia. According to the forecasts of J'son & Partners, those who are developing wireless Internet access networks in Russia (among them the most noticeable are Yota and Comstar-UTS) will have a total of 1.7 million subscribers by the end of the year. In addition, over the next couple of years, most regions will cover 3G cellular networks. According to J'son & Partners, in Russia already 15% of phones support 3G, and in Moscow - every third. Skype, for its part, is trying to make sure that its software can be installed on any phone with Internet access. In January 2009, the company introduced a lightweight version of the software that allows you to make calls from mobile phones that support the Java platform, that is, from all modern devices. In April, a version of Skype for the iPhone appeared, and in February 2010, for phones with the Symbian operating system, that is, for all new Nokia. It is significant that Orange, one of Europe’s largest mobile operators, boycotted the sale of Nokia with integrated Skype. Freestyle wrestling “We understand that the launch of 3G can reduce revenues from voice services,” says Pavel Zakharov, head of the marketing, development and management of fixed-line products at VimpelCom. In other words, after the mass launch of 3G, Skype services will become more accessible, and subscribers will pay less for long-distance calls. MTS Product and Services Director Pavel Roitberg notes that so far the share of Internet traffic attributable to Skype in the operator’s networks is still small. But if it becomes critical, then MTS will charge an additional fee for Skype calls. Today, Russian operators receive only from 48 to 84 rubles. (depending on the operating system of the phone) per hour of communication on Skype in 3G networks. At MTS, apparently, they are ready to follow the path of China Telecom. The largest Chinese operator has already acquired equipment that can track conversations on Skype. While the Chinese are not doing anything, but in the future they can block Skype or introduce restrictions on its use. Unlike MTS, VimpelCom is thinking not to raise Skype rates, but, on the contrary, to lower its own. “We ourselves can be like Skype,” says Pavel Zakharov. "After the takeover of the Golden Telecom operator, VimpelCom actually had its own wireline channels," explains Leonid Konik, editor-in-chief of ComNews Group. In other words, the requirement of the authorities to conduct traffic through the chain of intermediary operators for VimpelCom is rather a formality: it pays for itself. The problem is that Golden Telecom has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the construction of networks, and if tariffs are reduced to the Skype level, the return on investment will increase several times. Megafon decided to fight the invader with its own weapons and developed the Multfon program, similar to Skype, for phones and computers. Thus, the company is trying to prevent a reduction in payments. On the one hand, dozens of similar programs have already been developed (for example, the Russian "Mail.ru Agent"), but it was Skype who staked out almost the entire market for Internet telephony programs. On the other hand, large mobile operators have the necessary financial and administrative resources to turn the tide. By the way, recently the Internet giant Google acquired Gizmo5 - a program similar to Skype. So, preparations for the battle in the market of super-cheap mobile communications may be just beginning. Pavel Kulikov [DLMURL] https://www.kommersant.ru/ [/ DLMURL]

 

[Матушкин Андрей Николаевич]

Re: In Russia, as in most countries, Skype is illegal. Thank you.

 

[Объединенное Детективное Бюро]

European authorities want to listen to Skype

Skype want to listen.

European authorities want to listen to Skype

The European Union Agency for the Coordination of National Justice Systems (Eurojust) intends to seek the opportunity to listen to Internet telephony systems in the interests of the investigation.

As you know, Skype has a rather serious cryptographic system that uses, in particular, pairs of public and private keys to identify accounts and to exchange codes by which secure connections are established. All this is organized automatically, so that users not only do not have to take any special actions. Due to these features, Skype is often used by criminals for negotiations.

In this regard, the organization Eurojust, coordinating the judicial investigations of the EU countries, intends to gather investigators from all 27 EU countries to decide how to overcome the "technical and legislative difficulties that interfere with eavesdropping on Internet telephony systems."

Immediately after the appearance of the first messages of Eurojust intentions, the official Skype representative issued a statement expressing regret over the sole actions of Eurojust, which, in forming its own intentions, did not consider it necessary to discuss the problem directly with the communication program managers. The statement said that Skype works with law enforcement agencies wherever possible from a legal and technological point of view.

However, according to Eurojust, Skype still refuses to provide national law enforcement agencies of European countries with access codes to their own network security systems.

source

 

[Объединенное Детективное Бюро]

Drug dealers use Skype for negotiations Skype use drug dealers. Skype, with 256-bit encryption and a special scheme routing traffic is popular with drug dealers and other criminals. Swiss police are investigating dozens of drug trafficking cases using Skype to negotiate between a dealer and a customer. “Criminals know that it’s hard for police to track Skype,” said Christoph Winkler, Zurich’s prosecutor. Bernhard Weder, head of the Swiss federal Internet telephony monitoring working group, noted that Skype is “built extremely smartly,” making it difficult to monitor conversations on the network. According to him, the company Skype can intercept and track calls itself, but refuses to cooperate. Meanwhile, the PR-agency Skype denies the statement of Mr. Weder. cnews.ru

 

[Объединенное Детективное Бюро]

Skype - a huge problem for the German police Skype - a huge problem for the German police. Encryption of conversations on Skype - a huge problem for the German police Encrypting Skype voice traffic “creates huge problems” for the German police, says German Federal Police President (BKA) Joerg Ziercke. “We cannot decrypt it, and therefore we need the ability to listen through the source before the voice is encrypted, or after the system decrypts it,” he told reporters at a conference of law enforcement agencies. According to experts, conversations via Skype are difficult to intercept. Voice traffic is divided into the smallest sections that pass through thousands of nodes, unlike traditional telephone conversations, in which all traffic goes along a single path, ITWeb.co.za reports. According to Mr. Zirke, the police do not require Skype to build a “back door” or issue crypto keys. “I do not think this will help,” he said and added that he would not want to interfere with the competitiveness of any company. “I do not think that any of the providers will go for such a [requirement].” cnews.ru

 

[Объединенное Детективное Бюро]

Bavarian authorities want to listen to Skype

Skype want to listen.

Documents confirming the attempts of the German provincial authorities to get the opportunity to intercept conversations via Skype and other online communication tools got on the Internet. The document was provided by the German party Piraten, it consists of two parts and demonstrates correspondence with the company Digitask. In the first, the Bavarian ministry asks if Digitask can develop an interception program for online communications and offers a monthly payment for the subsequent rental of such a program. The second part contains the answer, Digitask describes how a company could deploy the use of such a development.

Digitask offered a hidden installation of software, its mass distribution by e-mail or target installation directly to the necessary computer. The installed module becomes a kind of intermediary, all incoming and outgoing conversations first pass through a remote server that records information. Do not think that Bavaria is the only place in the world where malware is used for surveillance, the same practice is taking place or is being developed in other countries, including the United States. Moreover, the developers of antivirus programs do not give an exact answer whether they will remove state trojans and viruses.

The situation is interesting because last year the German police admitted their inability to create a Skype listening program, but said that they would not seek help from Skype developers for help. If in Bavaria the use of wiretapping software begins, there is no doubt in its distribution throughout Germany.

the sources

 

[Объединенное Детективное Бюро]

A serious vulnerability was found in Skype

Skype is vulnerable

Aviv Raff, an Israeli computer security specialist, warns that a Skype IP telephony client program could theoretically be used by cybercriminals to execute arbitrary code on remote PCs.

The problem identified by Ruff is that when processing HTML code, the Skype client uses Internet Explorer components with insufficiently strict security settings. The fact is that certain Skype operations are performed in the local security zone. This feature can be used by cybercriminals to unauthorizedly launch programs on the victim’s machine, open files or steal personal information.

The British expert Petko Petkov claims that an attack on Skype users can be carried out through a website using the XSS (Cross-Site Scripting) technique. For example, an attack can be organized through the DailyMotion video service. To do this, an attacker must force a potential victim to download a specially crafted video using the "Add video to chat" function of the Skype client program.

The problem is relevant for the latest version of Skype with the index 3.6.0.244 and, possibly, earlier versions of the program. There are no ways to resolve the error. As a temporary protective measure, experts recommend that Skype users refrain from working with video through the IP telephony client software.

compulenta.ru

 

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Italian criminals actively use Skype

Criminals actively use Skype.

Italian criminals are increasingly using Skype for Internet telephony to communicate with each other, rather than mobile or landline phones. Thus, attackers successfully avoid wiretapping by law enforcement agencies.

The customs and tax police of Italy were the first to notice the problem. According to the police, the Skype talks are encrypted, which prevents them from listening to them like regular telephone conversations.

In the past few years, it was the recordings of telephone conversations that have become an important source of information about the activities of criminals for the Italian police. The government spends millions of dollars annually on wiretapping phones. However, often details of private telephone conversations, including of some high-ranking politicians, are leaked to the media.

To protect dignitaries from such scandals, the Italian government proposed a bill according to which wiretapping of telephone calls will be allowed only in cases of major crimes. In addition, if the bill is passed, inform the press about the details of the investigation obtained by wiretapping. will be banned until a verdict is issued.

source