Privacy International accuses Skype of security failings

Privacy International has criticised Skype for poor security and says it is letting down users, particularly those in more troubled areas of the world.

The company urgently needs to start encrypting traffic by moving onto HTTPS, as Twitter did today. Google started encrypting its Apps traffic at the start of the year after similar protests.

The group also highlighted the VBR audio compression codec used by Skype, which research has shown to have allowed half of calls to be monitored without decryption, with some techniques recovering over 90 per cent of phrases. Hackers have also claimed to have broken Skype's encryption.

"Skype's misleading security assurances continue to expose users around the world to unnecessary and dangerous risk," said Privacy International's human rights and technology advisor, Eric King.

"It's time for Skype to own up to the reality of its security and to take a leadership position in global communications."

Skype's user sign-on system was also criticised for allowing unverified names to be used in contacts list, making it easier to spoof users.

"Privacy International has not been in touch with us so it will take us some time to read and digest the report before we are in a position to respond," a Skype spokesperson told V3.co.uk.

"We will look into the points they have raised and will reach out to them. Skype takes these issues seriously and aims to provide users with the best possible levels of privacy and security."