German Govt. Skype Interception Trojans Revealed

James Hardine writes "Wikileaks has released documents from the German police revealing Skype interception technology. The leaks are currently creating a storm in the German press. The first document is a communication by the Ministry of Justice to the prosecutors office, about the cost splitting for Skype interception. The second document presents the offer made by Digitask, the German company secretly developing Skype interception, and holds information on pricing and license model, high-level technology descriptions and other detail. The document is of global importance because Skype is used by tens or hundreds of millions of people daily to communicate voice calls and Skype (owned by Ebay, Inc) promotes these calls as being encrypted and secure. The technology includes interception boxes, key forwarding trojans and anonymous proxies to hide police communications."

Comments

Why should we be surprised?

[trelayne]

If Germany can do it, do we really think it hasn't already been done in the states? Skype, is very popular and would be a logical means for governments to monitor conversations---especially when said program touts itself as being encrypted and secure. So the German revelations are likely a national security goof.

Re:Why should we be surprised?

[Kadin2048]

If Germany can do it, do we really think it hasn't already been done in the states?
Skype, is very popular and would be a logical means for governments to monitor
conversations---especially when said program touts itself as being encrypted and
secure. So the German revelations are likely a national security goof. More than that, while the Germans have to install this aftermarket snooping program, it wouldn't surprise me if Ebay provided a convenient backdoor in the code so that the U.S. government can do the same thing without going to all the trouble and expense (both of third-party software, and warrants).

How exactly Skype implements encryption has never been made public. Anyone using it for secure communications is a fool. The only person it's good against is some script kiddie on your LAN or in the coffee shop where you're using a hotspot. The only person calling it "secure" is Skype/Ebay, and since they haven't opened the code up for auditing by disinterested third parties (someone like, say, Bruce Schneier), it's really not guaranteed to be anything more than snake oil.

For all you know, every time you make a call, Skype could be forwarding the key to a central server and then sending them in bulk to the FBI. That's the price of using a closed-source security product where the vendor has an obvious interest in selling you out to the authorities.

It's NOT the german gov,...

[TransEurope]

it's the bavarian government, a federal state of germany.

http://www.heise.de/newsticker/suche/ergebnis?rm=result;q=skype;url=/newsticker/meldung/102375/;words=Skype
http://www.heise.de/newsticker/suche/ergebnis?rm=result;q=skype;url=/newsticker/meldung/102485/;words=Skype

Re:It's NOT the german gov,...

[KDR_11k]

For Americans, just think of Texas with lederhosen instead of cowboy garb.

Skype is not securely encrypted.

[WK2]

Skype is not securely encrypted. The only client is closed source, and the protocol is not open, nor peer-reviewed. The developers themselves have said that security analysts would probably quickly find holes if they opened the source.

It is less likely that thieves and spies, etc, will be able to eavesdrop on your Skype conversations than with a plain old phone. But don't treat it as secure communications.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skype

Re:Germany

[Aardpig]

As someone else has pointed out, it is legal in Germany for police to monitor phone calls, when they get appropriate authorization from a judge. Contrast this with the United States, where the administration is trying to award retroactive immunity to itself and telcos for years of illegal phone surveillance.

Re:Germany

[hkl387]

This is not about Germany's past, this is a global issue of today.

According to a 2007 International Privacy Ranking, there is "weakened protection" in Germany, while the UK and the US are ranked as "endemic surveillance societies".

Yes, we are very concerned about German authorities pushing to weaken our rights, but we also need to understand that Citizen's rights are under attack all around the world these days. Stereotypes are not helpful, we've got to stand up for our rights together.

Re:Germany

[m.ducharme]

I always wondered what that weird looking dongle was hanging out of the USB port....