Skype: how secure is it, really?

[Grafitti 0]

I'm just curious as to how secure Skype really is, because it's the latest buzz going around, to have Skype and how it's so much more secure than other chat/VOIP clients. How much of this is fact, and what is hyperbole? From googling it, and reading what i could find, it seems that it has a relatively robust encryption scheme, but that it's a blind area as it's proprietary software and hasn't been looked over by third parties for holes. All we have is the company's claims. I'm of the opinion that it really isn't much safer than yahoo or msn messenger, and that if you assume it's all secure you're more apt to leave things unencrypted, and when or if a breach is made, you'll encounter more of a loss.

[WeaponX 0]

It seems like Skype does indeed use a strong encryption method for their software. Read the article/document by Tom Berson who works for of Anagram Laboratories:

http://www.anagram.com/berson/skyeval.pdf

[Team Destiny 07 0]

What excactly is it? I heard it's yahoo msn and aim but idk.

[jimmy89 0]

Skype is a VOIP program. Basically, that means that you can talk to people over the Internet, Skype lets you do this with a microphone and speakers. Some companies now have VOIP boxes that you connect to your broadband router and your home phone and talk over the internet, as if you were using the normal telephone, but for much cheaper rates!This article by Tom is very enlightening, especially to all the work that Skype's programmers and engineers went to too make sure that this program was totally secure! It's good to know that while using Skype, were still secure - well, secure as we can be!-jimmy

[Quatrux 4]

I am using Skype quite a lot and I really like it, I prefer it over other IM to chat.. Anyway, what I wanted to say, that in my country, everyone has a Skype account, but not many people use Aim, Yahoo, MSN or Jabber.. Everyone were using IRC, which as I know is also quite secure, but with time everyone left IRC and moved to Skype and Web portals similar to myspace or orkut.. So only hardcore computer users is online on IRC on that server or totally stupid kids which likes to flood and etc. What am I trying to say, that it is strange for me, how in different countries different services/protocols are used, for example Gadu-Gadu only popular in Poland :)Currently on Skype, there are over 8 million people online, the numbers drop or get higher depending if it is Day or Night, Morning or Evening, Weekend or Weekday Of course, I don't know how much people are online on other IM like MSN and etc. Furthermore, on its security, I read that it is quite secure, but the only insecurity is due to it is using p2p, some newspapers wrote about it that people who has much faster connection, it is used much more, due to it is peer to peer connection, so file sharing is quite fast among people who are connected.Also, Skype3 version introduced so called Extras, which lets you to do different stuff, like Play Chess and other games and more other stuff, something like simple Plugins, but I noticed that those games are just Flash Games on Skype. ;]

[Grafitti 0]

Ah. So then it seems that I'm outvoted... I guess I'm all right with that, but I'll still wait to be convinced by an accredited 3rd party who can verify that Skype is really secure. I guess PGP has gone through that, and that I know has proven almost unbreakable. I do think they've done a great job on it though, and I concede that they're the ones who have been behind this massive growth in VoIP technology, which in turn makes it easier and more affordable for more people.