Skype. We’ve all heard of it, and most of us probably have used it at one time or another. Online video chats allow us to communicate face to face with friends and family across the globe. This type of communication has allowed us to feel connected to our loved ones no matter how far away they are. Skype is used in just about every type of situation, from family and friends keeping in touch to multimillion-dollar companies using video to hold conferences to online schools using Skype. So Skype is great right? Or is it? In a article by Chole Albanesius she uncovers an issues we might not have even considered, Tracking your location using Skype?? We are all concerned with it, since the big break in technology it has been an issues discussed over and over again. Are all these advances in technology really benefiting us, or hurting us. This year alone the issue of having your location tracked has popped up in the use of Apple’s IOS, Google, Microsoft and now Skype. In recent research done by the Polytechnic Institute of New York University, they discovered that the average Internet user can use a service like Skype to track a persons whereabouts. Simply having access to a users IP address can allow a person using real-time communication systems to be tracked by others. With this type of access privacy is clearly at risk. For example a prankster could easily use this data to create a public Web site that exposes the location and file-sharing activity of all active Skype users in a particular city or country. This type of exposure could lead to a number of privacy issues. SO what is being done about this problem? Believe it or not, at this moment in time… nothing. Skype was informed of this issued in its system months ago and very little action has been taken in the resolve of this glitch.
In a second article by Emma Woollacott discussing the same issue, she brings to light just how big an issues this problem really is. Skype claims to have more than half-billion registered users and one report suggests that one in five overseas calls is done using Skype. Not only are users at risk to have their location tracked but peer-to-peer file sharing activity is potentially at risk as well. So with nearly a billion registered users the possible backlash could be severe. A hacker anywhere in the world could easily track the whereabouts and file-sharing habits of a Skype users, from private citizens to celebrities and politicians, and use the information for purposes of stalking, blackmail or fraud. When a call is placed using an IP address that IP address is reveal to the recipient of the caller who can then use commercial geo-IP mapping services to determine the users location and internet provider. There is even a way for hackers to access IP addresses without the recipient even receiving the call or showing an call alert. Not to worry, researches have stated that flaw could be fixed relatively easily by redesigning the Skype protocol so that a user’s IP address is never revealed unless the call is accepted. So why hasn’t Skype taken action?? Your guess is as good as mine. For now all we as users can to is wait and cross our fingers we don’t fall victim to this invasion of privacy.
http://www.tgdaily.com/security-features/59240-skype-security-flaw-allows-location-tracking
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2395225,00.asp#fbid=MqvEDAd4e72
