Proof Of Concept Skype Wiretapping Malware Released
from the not-so-secret-any-more dept
One of the benefits of Skype was that, due to the way it works (P2P, encrypted communications), it made it much more difficult to do any sort of wiretap. This has upset various governments who are used to having the ability to wiretap any voice communications. However, it's never impossible. The most obvious way is to simply create some sort of trojan that gets installed on one user's computer that has audio recording abilities -- and Symantec is going around hyping up the fact that source code for just such a trojan has been released. Of course, even Symantec admits that there's no evidence of the code actually being used in the wild -- it seems more like a proof-of-concept. On top of that, it's hardly a new idea. Nearly a year ago, we talked about how German authorities were accused of using something that sounded quite similar. Still, it is a good reminder that even if you're using an encrypted Skype call, at either end of that call, the audio is decrypted, and a well-placed recording system can capture it.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Spys!
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Re: Spys!
...creepy.
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Re: Spys!
I know exactly what you mean.
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Proof of two concepts
The proof of concept is that it can be done. The second concept proven I think is that it WILL be done. Just as nothing is foolproof to the adequately equipped fool, anything available to the public WILL be hacked, it's just a matter of time.
This particular hack kinda makes me chuckle, though, at the simplicity. I feel like Brain laughing at Pinky's scheme and saying "That's the stupidest idea in the world!"
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