FutureWatch Update - Skype Tapping

When we last left Skype...

Was Skype reworked by Microsoft to make it easier to wiretap?

Hey kids, we bought and fixed Skype just for you!

In today's episode... 

Since its acquisition of Skype in May 2011, Microsoft has added a legitimate monitoring technology to Skype, says Maksim Emm, Executive Director of Peak Systems. Now any user can be switched to a special mode in which encryption keys will be generated on a server rather than the user's phone or computer.

Access to the server allows Skype calls or conversations to be tapped. Microsoft has been providing this technology to security services across the world, including Russia.

Group-IB CEO Ilya Sachkov said that the security services have been able to monitor the conversations and location of Skype users for a couple of years now.

"This is exactly why our staff are not allowed to discuss business on Skype," he said. (more)