[ale] Skype on Linux

[Jim Kinney]

um, duh!

What's the easiest way to get a working Microsoft software installation
certificate created for your new cool weapon? Ask an employee on the
payroll to sign your self-generated one.

On Mon, Jun 18, 2012 at 4:09 PM, Robert L. Harris <robert.l.harris at gmail.com
> wrote:

>
>
> http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/security/375169/could-us-cyberspies-have-moles-inside-microsoft
>
>
>
> On Fri, Apr 20, 2012 at 7:54 AM, JD <jdp at algoloma.com> wrote:
>
>> <snip>
>>
>> > Security concerns noted and appreciated.  While I understand where
>> you're coming
>> > from, (and each user is different), I don't use Skype for sensitive
>> comms.
>> > Mainly business stuff between colleagues (and Skype is the standard
>> where I
>> > work, so I more or less have to use it for that), and talks to my
>> family about
>> > dull family stuff when I'm away from the house.
>> >
>> > Given that Skype's data goes through a (large?) number of different
>> routers,
>> > networks, and such before and after it hits Skype's/MS' servers,
>> worrying about
>> > MS specifically recording my calls is actually the least of any worries
>> I'd have
>> > (if I had any to begin with).
>> >
>> > In short, I'm less concerned about THAT attack vector on my calling
>> since I
>> > believe there are so many other easier ones*.  And the NSA has  all my
>> data already.
>> >
>>
>> <snip>
>>
>> Main points about using Skype now that MS owns them was concern over good
>> Linux
>> platform support.  In my use of SisToSip, I learned that most businesses
>> using it
>> * setup skype on Linux servers
>> * used an old, now unavailable, version of Skype for the best sound and
>> stability - v2.0.0.72 (I believe, but this is from memory)
>> * were extremely concerned that MS would introduce incompatibilities so
>> their 3+
>> yr old version that doesn't crash and doesn't need to be rebooted
>> weekly/daily
>> no longer worked
>>
>> In my months of using it inside a VM, I ended up having to automatically
>> restart
>> skype daily so it didn't crash and inbound calls would ring. I also had
>> it setup
>> to send and receive normal POTS telephone calls. Picking up any regular
>> handset
>> in my home and using the dialpad to make calls worked ... once I started
>> the
>> daily reboot and if there wasn't a Skype system-wide outage. Early on it
>> was
>> often frustrating when the first inbound/outbound call of a day failed
>> until I
>> killed Skype on the server and restarted it.
>>
>> I haven't used Skype much the last year, so perhaps it is better?
>>
>> As to whether MS can or will be able to record skype calls ... if they
>> have a
>> court order and I'm inside the USA, then I don't have any issue. Of
>> course, I
>> have an expectation of privacy in any form of communication, especially
>> voice,
>> regardless of the actual technology employed.
>>
>> It is when they do it as a favor for any government anywhere or just for
>> fun,
>> that I'm concerned. I haven't read the methods proposed to record calls
>> by MS. I
>> thought that if one side of the skype call had an open inbound port, then
>> no
>> "supernode" was involved in the call, so no 3rd party would be needed
>> after the
>> initial "what is your IP" was determined. I thought that opening an
>> inbound port
>> for skype turned the system into a supernode for others to leverage, so
>> this
>> isn't a perfect solution. Seems that recording would need to happen on
>> one of
>> the systems involved in the call and transmitted to a remote system.
>>
>> I also read that a team had reverse engineered the Skype encryption and
>> released
>> the code
>>
>> http://www.h-online.com/security/news/item/Skype-s-encryption-procedure-partly-exposed-1034577.html
>> . That doesn't mean the encryption has been cracked.
>> _______________________________________________
>> Ale mailing list
>> Ale at ale.org
>> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
>> See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at
>> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo
>>
>
>
>
> --
> :wq!
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Robert L. Harris
>
> DISCLAIMER:
>       These are MY OPINIONS             With Dreams To Be A King,
>        ALONE.  I speak for                      First One Should Be A Man
>        no-one else.                                     - Manowar
>
> _______________________________________________
> Ale mailing list
> Ale at ale.org
> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
> See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at
> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo
>
>


-- 
-- 
James P. Kinney III
*
*Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you gain
at one end you lose at the other. It's like feeding a dog on his own tail.
It won't fatten the dog.
- Speech 11/23/1900 Mark Twain
*
http://electjimkinney.org
http://heretothereideas.blogspot.com/
*
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mail.ale.org/pipermail/ale/attachments/20120618/e7553ccc/attachment.html