NOW READ THIS
("Security Advisory")
Submitted by: Bill Hickey
NCVA List Master
NRT-0303 Criminals Using SKYPE to Communicate:
Criminals are taking advantage of SKYPE's 256-bit encryption and
the internet's unpredictable routing scheme to set up drug deals and other crimes,
according to Swiss law enforcement officials. According to SwissInfo, a Swiss Broadcasting
Corporation company, local police are investigating dozens of drug-related cases where
SKYPE has been the medium of communication between gang members and clients. "Criminals
know that the police have difficulties monitoring SKYPE," it quotes a Zurich prosecutor
of drugs and organized crime as saying. According to Bernhard Weder, head of a Swiss federal
working group that is researching how to monitor internet phone calls, SKYPE is "extremely
cleverly built." Weder believes SKYPE can decode calls, but said the firm not been
cooperative, a charge the company's public relations branch reportedly denied.
(www.computerweekly.com 10OCT07)