Showing posts with label skype. Show all posts
Showing posts with label skype. Show all posts
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Does Microsoft spy on Skype conversations?
Your Skype conversations aren't very private, a new report reveals.
In an experiment, tech news site Ars Technica found that two out of the four links they sent over Skype were accessed by a computer that matched Microsoft's IP address.
The report basically demolishes the commonly held notion that Skype
is using so-called end-to-end encryption--basically locking up your
message from when you send to when it's received, Ars Technica points
out in its report on Monday.
To be fair, on Skype's privacy policy, it is clearly stated that Skype has the right to scan and review your instant messages and SMS:
Skype may use automated scanning within Instant Messages and SMS to (a) identify suspected spam and/or (b) identify URLs that have been previously flagged as spam, fraud, or phishing links. In limited instances, Skype may capture and manually review instant messages or SMS in connection with Spam prevention efforts.
Last March, San Francisco-based writer Tienlon Ho was kicked off of Google because the bots searching for spam and phishing thought that a document of usernames and passwords she had in Google Drive violated Google's terms of service.
The issue was first raised by The H Security last Tuesday. The security news site's associates in Germany experimented with sending HTTPS URLs through Skype's instant messaging tool and found that those URLs were visited by an IP address matching Microsoft headquarters soon after they were sent
If you share a URL in a Skype instant message, there’s a possibility (not a guarantee, just a chance) that a SmartScreen server will ask for more information about the server from which that URL originated. It will then use that information to help determine whether that link is legit.
In an experiment, tech news site Ars Technica found that two out of the four links they sent over Skype were accessed by a computer that matched Microsoft's IP address.
To be fair, on Skype's privacy policy, it is clearly stated that Skype has the right to scan and review your instant messages and SMS:
Skype may use automated scanning within Instant Messages and SMS to (a) identify suspected spam and/or (b) identify URLs that have been previously flagged as spam, fraud, or phishing links. In limited instances, Skype may capture and manually review instant messages or SMS in connection with Spam prevention efforts.
Last March, San Francisco-based writer Tienlon Ho was kicked off of Google because the bots searching for spam and phishing thought that a document of usernames and passwords she had in Google Drive violated Google's terms of service.
The issue was first raised by The H Security last Tuesday. The security news site's associates in Germany experimented with sending HTTPS URLs through Skype's instant messaging tool and found that those URLs were visited by an IP address matching Microsoft headquarters soon after they were sent
If you share a URL in a Skype instant message, there’s a possibility (not a guarantee, just a chance) that a SmartScreen server will ask for more information about the server from which that URL originated. It will then use that information to help determine whether that link is legit.
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