Skype Encryption Stumps German Police

TallGuyRacer writes "German police are unable to decipher the encryption used in the internet telephone software Skype to monitor calls by suspected criminals and terrorists, Germany's top police officer, Joerg Ziercke, said. "The encryption with Skype telephone software ... creates grave difficulties for us... We can't decipher it. That's why we're talking about source telecommunication surveillance — that is, getting to the source before encryption or after it's been decrypted.""

Comments

It's all about building trust..

[OlivierB]

Oh noes, the police can't decipher Skype! We're all gonna die!
Yeah right.
If you are paying attention, Skype is incorporated in Luxembourg, which is part of the EU, just like Germany (they actually share borders).
Do you think the EU would allow for some European company to provide tools to "terrorists" without having eavesdropping ability?

Now for the real story; German Police is putting on a little show so people actually trust *more* the closed-source Skype software.

If the German Police had no way of eavesdropping they would either (a) Shut up about it or (b) Actually say they have supercomputers that can decipher anything (even if this is not true). (a) or (b) would create enough FUD for "terrorists" to actually distrust Skype as a communication medium.

This is all spin doctor speak, and I would never trust Skype for sensitivie material communications. The Zfone project http://zfoneproject.com/ is a much more secure system.