The new age of information technology is strong in all corporations, and people understand that there are fast and easy methods of communication that haven't been available before. One of the most modern being the Instant Messaging tool, in any form possible. And the most popular form of the day is Skype.
Furthermore, the modern corporate employees view the ability to use Skype at work as their constitutional right, not a corporate privilege.But let's observe the pitfalls of Skype usage in corporate communication:
Skype is designed to be an Internet communication tool - This means that each SkypeClient MUST connect to a SuperNode somewhere on the internet
The Skype protocol is designed to enable communication between users via possibly blocking paths. It does this by using SuperNodes and Routing Nodes to transfer messages when direct client-to-client communication is impossible
The Skype protocol is propriatery and encrypted, so there is no way to control or audit the content of the messages.
Again through a characteristic of the Skype protocol, any Skype client can choose to become a Routing Node, potentially offering it's services to any client on the Internet.
Skype is designed as internet telephony protocol, and the voice functionality cannot be blocked. Using the voice functionality can cause unnecessary bandwidth usage and potential problems on the data network
The Skype client is closed source, and any claims of the encryption algorithms used in it have to be taken for granted, since there is no way to confirm them. So, nobody really knows whether Skype or anyone else can eavesdrop. Even if all claims are true, the usual problem is not with the algorithm, but with it's implementation. Bear in mind that one of iPhone hacker unlock mechanisms used a bug in the RSA encryption algorithm.
The Skype binary is unnaturally large, most of it is encrypted, and it contains numerous controls and hooks that are designed to prevent an active debugging tool to reverse engineer it. Also, it contains intentional garbage code and padding designed to confuse any dissecting of the file. This mess of a binary is an excellent place to hide an undesirable element like backdoor, trojan or spyware tool, which would not be easily detectable through standard spyware tools.
All passwords of the Skype users are kept on a centralized Skype Authentication Server. Skype claims that all passwords are irreversibly hashed. This fact as well as the hashing algorithm are impossible to confirm. This may not be a problem for private use, but in a corporate environment a large number of employees use the same password for all their business applications, so it is quite possible that they will use the same password for Skype, potentially releasing this password in the wild.
Furthermore, the modern corporate employees view the ability to use Skype at work as their constitutional right, not a corporate privilege.But let's observe the pitfalls of Skype usage in corporate communication:
Skype is designed to be an Internet communication tool - This means that each SkypeClient MUST connect to a SuperNode somewhere on the internet
The Skype protocol is designed to enable communication between users via possibly blocking paths. It does this by using SuperNodes and Routing Nodes to transfer messages when direct client-to-client communication is impossible
The Skype protocol is propriatery and encrypted, so there is no way to control or audit the content of the messages.
Again through a characteristic of the Skype protocol, any Skype client can choose to become a Routing Node, potentially offering it's services to any client on the Internet.
Skype is designed as internet telephony protocol, and the voice functionality cannot be blocked. Using the voice functionality can cause unnecessary bandwidth usage and potential problems on the data network
The Skype client is closed source, and any claims of the encryption algorithms used in it have to be taken for granted, since there is no way to confirm them. So, nobody really knows whether Skype or anyone else can eavesdrop. Even if all claims are true, the usual problem is not with the algorithm, but with it's implementation. Bear in mind that one of iPhone hacker unlock mechanisms used a bug in the RSA encryption algorithm.
The Skype binary is unnaturally large, most of it is encrypted, and it contains numerous controls and hooks that are designed to prevent an active debugging tool to reverse engineer it. Also, it contains intentional garbage code and padding designed to confuse any dissecting of the file. This mess of a binary is an excellent place to hide an undesirable element like backdoor, trojan or spyware tool, which would not be easily detectable through standard spyware tools.
All passwords of the Skype users are kept on a centralized Skype Authentication Server. Skype claims that all passwords are irreversibly hashed. This fact as well as the hashing algorithm are impossible to confirm. This may not be a problem for private use, but in a corporate environment a large number of employees use the same password for all their business applications, so it is quite possible that they will use the same password for Skype, potentially releasing this password in the wild.
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