Skype Users - Your Calls/posts Are Being "tapped"

[kedawi]

I heard on the news this morning that some Canadians have found out that the Chinese have been moitoring Skype...looking for politically sensitive ords such as "bomb" or "tibet"...............

well it occurred to me that if every Skype user was to add the word "Tibet" to their message, name or phone call it would probably overload their systems....worth a try??

Edited October 3, 2008 by kedawi

[roamer]

In that case better let the NSA in the USA and GHCQ in UK know because so far Skypes encryption has proved uncrackable. And whilst I wouldn't put it above either of those two agencies to put that out even if it were not so, trying to do so other than on a highly targeted basis would present a massive technological challenge. These rumours have been around for a while and Skype issued the following statement about it :

“Skype is aware of the claim made by a small group of Chinese engineers that they have reverse engineered Skype software. We have no evidence to suggest that this is true. Even if it was possible to do this, the software code would lack the feature set and reliability of Skype which is enjoyed by over 100 million users today. Moreover, no amount of reverse engineering would threaten Skype’s cryptographic security or integrity.”

[Farma]

Don’t be so quick off the mark there roamer. It was only a few weeks ago news leaked out a western European country had managed to install a Trojan into a political parties skype. They then had access to all conversations.

Here’s a link to the story kedawi is referring to.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0...5003402,00.html

"<snip> SKYPE has admitted politically sensitive text messages were archived by its partner in China.

Skype, the online text message and voice service owned by auction giant eBay, said it had been unaware that the internet chat of users in China was being stored on computer servers by Chinese mobile firm TOM Online.

Citizen Lab, a group of computer security experts at the University of Toronto, revealed this week that TOM Online was spying on TOM-Skype users in China and collecting messages with specific keywords.

Citizen Lab said the messages, with words such as "Tibet," "Communist Party" or "democracy," contained internet addresses, usernames and other information which could make the senders and recipients easily identifiable. <snip>

[philstone]

I heard on the news this morning that some Canadians have found out that the Chinese have been moitoring Skype...looking for politically sensitive ords such as "bomb" or "tibet"...............

well it occurred to me that if every Skype user was to add the word "Tibet" to their message, name or phone call it would probably overload their systems....worth a try??

We are so important that have nothing to do but listen to our calls. Even America would not waste their time on your calls wake up stop dreaming.

[phaethon]

If you think someone's listening, just switch to Issan or Laos. Works on me...

[roamer]

Don’t be so quick off the mark there roamer. It was only a few weeks ago news leaked out a western European country had managed to install a Trojan into a political parties skype. They then had access to all conversations.

Here’s a link to the story kedawi is referring to.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0...5003402,00.html

"<snip> SKYPE has admitted politically sensitive text messages were archived by its partner in China.

Skype, the online text message and voice service owned by auction giant eBay, said it had been unaware that the internet chat of users in China was being stored on computer servers by Chinese mobile firm TOM Online.

Citizen Lab, a group of computer security experts at the University of Toronto, revealed this week that TOM Online was spying on TOM-Skype users in China and collecting messages with specific keywords.

Citizen Lab said the messages, with words such as "Tibet," "Communist Party" or "democracy," contained internet addresses, usernames and other information which could make the senders and recipients easily identifiable. <snip>

We are not talking about the same thing here, the report relates to text messages or records of voice calls( ip address) on the TOM- Skype software used in China.

As for your other point about trojan software being used, its long been recognised by security sources that because of the 256 bit encrption you have to get at the source of the conversation before it is encrypted, hence the need for trojan software. Thats why I stated this was only possible on targeted individuals and can't be done en masse. quite apart from encryption, that data, (your voice call) is split into thousands of different packets on leaving your computer before being reassembled at its destination.

My point remains the same, no one is listening to your Skype voice calls.....we hope !!!

[Farma]

I see what you mean roamer. I’m reading the offer by DigiTask to the State of Bavaria on wikileaks now. It needs to be installed by attachment or directly installed. It’s interesting to read the way they can capture and playback voice and chat live.

[kurgen]

we should all wear tin foil berets, it's the only way

[roamer]

we should all wear tin foil berets, it's the only way

I thought about that but was concerned it would make it more easy to track me visually from space.

[kurgen]

we should all wear tin foil berets, it's the only way

I thought about that but was concerned it would make it more easy to track me visually from space.

not if you smear it with lung butter

[jayjayjayjay]

hope they understand English better than Thai's 5555555555 555555555 555555555 555555555555

[kedawi]

The point i was trying t make is that ifeveryone puts a politically sensitive" word on Skype tany listening/tapping would be overloaded

[sbk]

this article is regarding communications being monitored in China. Not worldwide. There is no evidence to suggest that China is monitoring Skype text chats in Thailand.

[H2oDunc]

Its not just Skype you need to worry about. Project Echelon is a listening project that is worldwide. It is run by the NSA. In England there is a very large listening post at Menwith hill. Here they listen to all traffic whether email, phone, mobile radio, satellite, VOIP you name it. I have been there many times doing fibre work and had to go through a high security clearence to do anywork there. My brother was an AA man and for a short period of time there was so much elactromagnetic disturbance around the place it effected the ECU's of Lancia cars. When they drove within a certain distance to the place their cars simply stopped. The AA men covering the area recieved a memo telling them to simply tow the vehicle to an area X amount of miles from Menwith hill and they woud start, which they did. This only lasted for a short while then the certain type af radiation stopped

As an aside, mobile phone companes could make their traffic encrypted to a degree to make them unbreakable but our Government wont allow them to as they need to be abe to access and listen when they want. In a lot of countries encrypted data is illegal and the number of countries brininging anti encryption laws gets bigger every year.

Big brother is here and its here to stay!!!!!

JUST BECAUSE YOUR PARANOID DOESN'T MEAN THEY ARE NOT ALL OUT TO GET YOU !!!!

[sassienie]

This sort of stuff has been going on for donkey`s years.

I can remember back in the 1960s, my Aunt was running a guest house for Irish labourers working in our area of Southend on Sea, Essex.

A couple of the tenants had connections with the IRA and later on we discovered that our phone line was being tapped.

Authorities of many countries have the powers to tap into our emails, phone lines, Skype, mobiles and so on, all legally.

Always be aware that Big Brother could be listening in when exchanging personal messages through the media.

[dave111223]

The point i was trying t make is that ifeveryone puts a politically sensitive" word on Skype tany listening/tapping would be overloaded

Assuming that they already had the processing power and system for monitoring/analyzing all conversions then surely the relative resources required to store an already analyzed conversation would be small in comparison.

[kedawi]

I have on problem with any info they get...the problem I have is that they are tryingto get it...Im sure anything they get from me would be useless...therefore putting words on like "Tibet" will fuc_k up their "big brother" type paranoia.

[desertrat]

If you are engaged in any nefarious activity, best to assume that you are being "listened" to, or that your emails etc are being read.

The German Naval Enigma had 1.8 thousand, million, million, million. (1.8x10^22). which even today a brute force attack may not finish until the sun goes super nova. I am happy to be corrected on this.

However Bletchley Park were breaking the traffic, not by brute force but by cribs, inspired thought and captured code books, and the "bombes" for which two young Polish Mathematicians never really got much credit.

Computers as big as shipping containers were eventually designed and built.

Alan Turing the genius behind so much was allegedly killed by British Secret Service as a security risk because he was a homosexual.

The Apple logo is a testimony to the cyanide laden apple which killed him.

The German Intelligence were suspicious about the successes (Interceptions of their ships and U-boats,) and mounted many investigations, mainly for leaks and spies. At no time would they consider it could be broken.

On a lighter note, King George VI visited Blechley park where many WRENS were working.

He stopped and asked one what she did.."Sorry can't tell you sir"

Trap Doors, Bogus Encryption Programs these are what concern some today, publishing the source code is not much help, for those of us who can't write a program to add 2 numbers. and think perl is a misspelling.

To try your hand at breaking Enigma Codes..look at

http://users.telenet.be/d.rijmenants/en/challenge.htm

So the wicked flee when no man pursueth.

[shocker]

If you are engaged in any nefarious activity, best to assume that you are being "listened" to, or that your emails etc are being read.

The German Naval Enigma had 1.8 thousand, million, million, million. (1.8x10^22). which even today a brute force attack may not finish until the sun goes super nova. I am happy to be corrected on this.

However Bletchley Park were breaking the traffic, not by brute force but by cribs, inspired thought and captured code books, and the "bombes" for which two young Polish Mathematicians never really got much credit.

Computers as big as shipping containers were eventually designed and built.

Alan Turing the genius behind so much was allegedly killed by British Secret Service as a security risk because he was a homosexual.

The Apple logo is a testimony to the cyanide laden apple which killed him.

The German Intelligence were suspicious about the successes (Interceptions of their ships and U-boats,) and mounted many investigations, mainly for leaks and spies. At no time would they consider it could be broken.

On a lighter note, King George VI visited Blechley park where many WRENS were working.

He stopped and asked one what she did.."Sorry can't tell you sir"

Trap Doors, Bogus Encryption Programs these are what concern some today, publishing the source code is not much help, for those of us who can't write a program to add 2 numbers. and think perl is a misspelling.

To try your hand at breaking Enigma Codes..look at

http://users.telenet.be/d.rijmenants/en/challenge.htm

So the wicked flee when no man pursueth.

and its no use using codewords or euphemisms,in court they just say...."we believe (codeword) to be a euphemism for etc etc.

and arent the UK/EU starting to hold all calls,texts emails etc on file for 5 years as an anti terrorism device?Where will they get the storage space?

mobile phones etc dont work too well next door to GCHQ in UK either

[desertrat]

How do they scan "Glaswegian" for example, or is the incomprehensible Andy Gray helping out.?

Edited October 7, 2008 by desertrat