Egypt and beyond: Skype not secure as an activist tool?

Egyptian security services had the ability to listen in to Skype conversations, says this report.

Excerpted from Salem Muhammod:

“Skype was the method of choice for secure communications among anti-government organizers in Egypt during this past winter’s uprising, believing that Skype “cannot be penetrated online by any security device.”

However it turns out the protestors’ feelings of privacy were misplaced and Egypt’s security service was indeed listening in on their Skype conversations.

In an ironic twist, Egypt’s “Electronic Penetration Department” issued an internal memo which actually bragged that it had intercepted one such conversation in which the dissidents were actually discussing the non-penetrability of Skype to unwelcome ears.

Skype is a familiar internet tool used by millions of people throughout the world to make inexpensive, and often free, international phone calls over the internet. Microsoft is about to purchase Skype for $8.5 billion, and Skype, headquartered in Luxembourg, has also become a valuable tool for dissidents organizing revolutions around the globe. The reason for Skype’s popularity? It is known to have powerful encryption technology built in which easily evades traditional wiretaps.

Egyptian dissidents are not the only ones using Skype. All over the Middle East and North African region Skype has been used for video calls and conferences, ordinary phone calls, instant messages and even exchange of files. Anti-government leaders in Iran relied on Skype to plot strategy as well as to organize their February protest. US State Department cables release on WikiLeaks attest to the fact that activists in Saudi Arabia and Vietnam are also enamored with Skype.

But the love affair has taken a bad beating. After the successful toppling of the Egyptian government and its leader Hosni Mubarak in March, several demonstrators entered the headquarters of Amn Al Dowla, the state’s security agency, where they discovered that secret memo mentioned above gloating over the agency’s ability to intercept messages sent over Skype. One activist, Basem Fathi claims that he found files describing his personal life, including trips he took to the beach and about his girlfriends, which he believes were taken from intercepted e-mails and phone calls.”

1 Comment Egypt and beyond: Skype not secure as an activist tool?

  1. AvatarErdnah

    Hmm, if i right-understood Muhammood’s article, skype’s encryption was _bypassed_ by spyware, the conversation was intercepted. With spyware on your computer, it doesn’t seem important to me which conversation tool is used (aside from easier exploitation of wide-spread tools). It could even turn on your webcam an microphone without any conversation tool just to watch/listen your inhouse conversations. Anyway, as Skype is closed source you don’t know what happens behind the curtains tho.

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