Thursday, May 3, 2012

Skype Left Privacy Vulnerability Unfixed For More Than A Year

Skype has left a privacy vulnerability unfixed for more than a year.

According to Wired, researchers from Polytechnic Institute of New York University had discovered the problem in Skype that allows people to track the geographical location Skype users and identify the users’ IP addresses.

The team of researchers discovered the vulnerability in 2010 and notified the company. In 2011, they published the information.

They were also able to track 10,000 Skype users for two weeks after discovering the vulnerability.

However, according to former researcher Steven Le Blond, the vulnerability remains unfixed.

Keith Ross, one of the researches, believes that Skype failed to rectify the problem as it may be too “deeply embedded in the code” and would require “heavy restructuring” of the program to be resolved.

When questioned on the researchers’ discovery, Skype’s director of product security Adrian Asher said Skype would be investigating the researchers’ reports.

He also added that it is an issue faced by all peer-to-peer software companies.

No comments: