We talk to you every week about ways to
protect your privacy but sometimes online services providers just don’t see to
care. We just learned that Skype has known about a security bug that
shows your IP address, which can let someone track you and your account down to
the city level. How long have they known about it? According to one
group- 18 months!
What we know so far is that with this hole, someone can see your information and pull the city, country, internet provider and IP address connected to you. That’s just shy of your GPS coordinates and downright creepy! Luckily, cyber expert, Theresa Payton, found out about this issue and she has some pointers for us.
WHAT WE KNOW:
1. A research team from Inria in France and the Polytechnic Institute of New York University tested Skype in November 2010 and found they could track users down to the city they lived in for two weeks. The reported it to Skype.
2. They tested the same issue again and the hole was still wide open.
3. The researchers masked a call to Skype users and hid it from call histories as if they were never there. The account never had to answer the hidden call for the team to get a packet back of information
4. The “hidden call” allowed the team to pull information back about the person they called
THE ISSUE:
1. You can track a person down to within 700 yards based on an IP address
2. Someone could use this to track you and your whereabouts
3. For businesses that use this, someone can track your employees’ whereabouts
4. An IP address is a handy piece to a cybercriminal’s puzzle if they want to hack into your computer or device
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
1. Complain to Skype, via it’s new owner, Microsoft
2. Use a Skype alternative such as iChat or FaceTime, Google Voice and Video Chat, AOL chat and video, Yahoo chat and video, ooVoo, and VoxOx
3. Keep in mind that these services will have glitches from time to time to track warnings for the product on their site as well as checking in at WBTV.com
WORD FOR THE WEEK:
BO.LT/ Bolt is a new site. It’s currently invitation only! Write to WBTV and everyone that responds will get an invitation from Theresa to Bolt. It’s a new place for you to organize and share things that you like by “bolt”-ing them onto your special bolt page. You can actually mark and save a page, and according to the site you can save them “forever”.
WEB RESOURCES:
Apple Products for Chat and Video:
http://www.apple.com/macosx/apps/all.html#ichat
Google Products for Chat and Video:
https://www.google.com/chat/video
ooVoo:
www.oovoo.com
VoxOx:
www.voxox.com
AOL Chat and Video:
www.aol.com/av/
Yahoo Chat and Video:
messenger.yahoo.com/
What we know so far is that with this hole, someone can see your information and pull the city, country, internet provider and IP address connected to you. That’s just shy of your GPS coordinates and downright creepy! Luckily, cyber expert, Theresa Payton, found out about this issue and she has some pointers for us.
WHAT WE KNOW:
1. A research team from Inria in France and the Polytechnic Institute of New York University tested Skype in November 2010 and found they could track users down to the city they lived in for two weeks. The reported it to Skype.
2. They tested the same issue again and the hole was still wide open.
3. The researchers masked a call to Skype users and hid it from call histories as if they were never there. The account never had to answer the hidden call for the team to get a packet back of information
4. The “hidden call” allowed the team to pull information back about the person they called
THE ISSUE:
1. You can track a person down to within 700 yards based on an IP address
2. Someone could use this to track you and your whereabouts
3. For businesses that use this, someone can track your employees’ whereabouts
4. An IP address is a handy piece to a cybercriminal’s puzzle if they want to hack into your computer or device
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
1. Complain to Skype, via it’s new owner, Microsoft
2. Use a Skype alternative such as iChat or FaceTime, Google Voice and Video Chat, AOL chat and video, Yahoo chat and video, ooVoo, and VoxOx
3. Keep in mind that these services will have glitches from time to time to track warnings for the product on their site as well as checking in at WBTV.com
WORD FOR THE WEEK:
BO.LT/ Bolt is a new site. It’s currently invitation only! Write to WBTV and everyone that responds will get an invitation from Theresa to Bolt. It’s a new place for you to organize and share things that you like by “bolt”-ing them onto your special bolt page. You can actually mark and save a page, and according to the site you can save them “forever”.
WEB RESOURCES:
Apple Products for Chat and Video:
http://www.apple.com/macosx/apps/all.html#ichat
Google Products for Chat and Video:
https://www.google.com/chat/video
ooVoo:
www.oovoo.com
VoxOx:
www.voxox.com
AOL Chat and Video:
www.aol.com/av/
Yahoo Chat and Video:
messenger.yahoo.com/
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