Skype communications monitored by Microsoft?

According to a German researcher and web site, the Redmond company would monitor regularly the contents of the Skype messages for security reasons. Several associations are concerned respect the privacy of conversations.

Skype users may need to reconsider their confidence in VoIP communication system. According to Ars Technica, Microsoft regularly analyze the contents of the Skype messages for security reasons, looking for possible fraud. The site of Ken "Caesar" Fisher is concerned that the publisher makes this information if it keeps indefinitely or destroys them.
The issue has already been raised last week by the German blog specializing in security Heise Security. "Skype automatically scans instant messages to identify spam and identify the addresses of web sites previously identified as spam sites, scam sites, or links to phishing," said in a statement emailed to the spokesman VoIP service, James Blamey. However, Microsoft says that H Security lets the pages simple, yet riskier only scans HTTP and HTTPS pages generally related to secure web sites and not spam sites.


The discovery made by Ars Technica and the independent security researcher Ashkan Soltani raises the question of confidentiality of communications on Skype. This is a potential bomb that Microsoft has a very active "Scroogled" campaign against Google to expose its methods for data privacy, including analysis of the contents of Gmail messages to send targeted advertising messages to readers, or collection of users when downloading applications data Play Store

Many questions

"These recent findings indicate that Skype users can not reasonably rely on the confidentiality of their conversations and their Skype calls," said Ashkan Soltani. "We think that the written message to a recipient that is visible only to him, but this is not the case," he told our colleagues at PC World. "We understand that Microsoft may monitor part." In addition, it is unclear that the U.S. firm is the data. It is also unclear when the data is retrieved directly from the Skype client or during transit.
"The slippery slope," said the researcher. "If they monitor the URL directly in the chat window, you can ask if they do not watch something else? Can they, for example, record all conversations? And if that is the case, Microsoft could very well be forced by government to enable control of a suspicion of wrongdoing "user, he said, adding that" so far we have no evidence that Microsoft has this capability, but it is suggested by this discovery. "

Advocacy for respect the privacy of conversations

Earlier this year, several groups of civil rights, such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Reporters Without Borders, have questioned the privacy of Skype. "Many users rely on Skype to secure communications - whether activists operating under authoritarian regimes, journalists who communicate with sensitive sources or users who want to talk in private and in confidence, with their associates, their family or friends, "they wrote in an open letter to Skype and Microsoft executives.
They add, "It is regrettable that such users, and those who advise on best practices in safety, have to worry about permanent blurred and confused commitments about the confidentiality of Skype conversations and, in particular, the possible access of governments and other third parties to data users and the content of their communications. " This latest revelation Skype will not help to clarify the issue of confidentiality and security of the system.