Irenic
join:2000-05-02
Montreal, QC
1 edit |  Skype rocks!
Skype has many uses and is very popular because unlike SIP-based software or Netmeeting or whatever it just works.
It's up to employers and employees to determine what may or may not be done on the job. Banning Skype outside private businesses by ISPs is done for two reasons:
1) Fear of losing revenue.
2) Fear of being unable to supress free communication.
Skype does a wonderful job and one can hardly fault it because some people don't like the freedom it gives us to communicate cheaply and effectively. |
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Fatal Vector
join:2005-11-26
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Yes, and the freedom it will give malware to screw us up in the future. You CAN fault it because people have firewalls up for a reason and things that you put on your computer are not supposed to just bypass it on a whim or, with a sneak trick. Sneak behavior is, quite simply, Malware/virus/exploit behavior.
Lets see what you all have to say further down the line when this behavior is being used for malware. Then you wont be so complacent. |
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John T
@verizon.net
| reply to Irenic
Of course, there's always
3) Fear of using a closed-source, non-open standard product which turns nodes into supernodes (without saying so) and has essentially no security (Skype keeps all keys, the clients implicitly trust anything over the Skype protocol.)
There are lots of scary things about Skype from a security perspective. |
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yzor
Premium
join:2003-01-03
Jacksonville, FL | reply to Fatal Vector
can you not block all out going UDP packets and stop Skype? |
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Fatal Vector
join:2005-11-26
| "can you not block all out going UDP packets and stop Skype?"
Yes, you can (usually, in a decent firewall. Thing is you have to modify the rules to do it). But Joe and Jane box of rocks doesn't know that. They are more likely to click on a OK box than anything else. |
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karlmarx
join:2006-09-18
iraq
 ·Fairpoint Communic..
| No, you CAN'T block all udp packets. That would 'break the internet'. What skype is doing is peferctly fine. The firewall is acting EXACTLY AS IT SHOULD. If I open an outbound udp connection, then I MUST be able to get traffic BACK. The programmers at skype realize that, and use it correctly.
Hint: You CAN'T SEND MALWARE over UDP. Period. UDP does NOT GUARANTEE DELIVERY, so you can't send traffic to cause a buffer overflow.
--
Stick it to the MAN. Support your local torrent sites. Proudly providing 10mb of upstream for all your TV, Movie, and MP3 needs. |
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Michieru2
zzz zzz zzz
Premium
join:2005-01-28
Miami, FL
1 edit | "No, you CAN'T block all udp packets."
Yes you can. All incoming at least to my knowledge. |
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stufried
Premium
join:2003-10-13 | reply to yzor
The UAE has sucessfully blocked Skype so obviously it can be done. |
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Fatal Vector
join:2005-11-26 | reply to Michieru2
I can block all UDP if I like with my firewall. But then, not all firewalls are equal and mine is a older one not targeted by malware. Just goes to show that just because it's new doesn't allways mean better |
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claudeo
join:2000-02-23
Redmond, WA
| reply to John T
said by John T :
Of course, there's always
3) Fear of using a closed-source, non-open standard product which turns nodes into supernodes (without saying so) and has essentially no security (Skype keeps all keys, the clients implicitly trust anything over the Skype protocol.)
There are lots of scary things about Skype from a security perspective.
Compared to, er, Microsoft WGA? |
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