Skype Chat....how private?

[Japanfreakier]

I made a private group to talk to my friends and I noticed that when I log on and join the chat I get a log of the chat when I wasn't there.

So my questions is where is the log kept and is it something to worry about?

Can somebody educate me on the risks of skype chat please?

 

[RudolfTheRed]

its the internet. there is no privacy.

 

[Strainhunter]

its the internet. there is no privacy.

.............................^^^^^That's it and no more. (nor less)

 

[Gastro]

skypes policy is not to give away any information to governments or any other 3rd party.(alteast officialy) problem is that you have internet providers and so on that have different policies. in italy though there was a skandal because the police was not able to incarcerate some cocain dealers because they talked about the critical stuff on skype, so the police basically had half the evidence they expected to have.

but anyhow if you can avoid to talk about any incriminating things on internet or phone, do it!

 

[ak-51]

You can find several stories about law enforcements failure to break skype encryption. Just say theoretically that the NSA had broken skype encryption, if that were the case they would probably just keep it to themselves. Such a useful tool would likely be reserved only for counter-terrorism and political espionage. To bring any small beans cultivation and trafficking case to court would also spill said beans. I would feel safer using skype (in certain ways*) than cell phones. I am kind of interested in using skype, but my prepaid cell is good enough. A prepaid cell is $30 with 300 minutes on it. A 300 minute refill card is $30. I just get a new phone about every 2 months.

If you wanted to use skype securely there are a few things I could recommend:
1. Pay for your credit with a pre-paid debit card, untraceable back to you.
2. Do not connect to skype from your home internet connection
3. Follow regular safety precautions, no "hey (name), this is (name) please deliver (weight) to (address) for (money amount) at (time)" calls.

 

[Pimpin_Smurf]

Skype is supposedly heavily encrypted. It's closed-source software though, so you can't completely trust it. It should be pretty much impossible for a non-govt agent to intercept your conversation.

However, it doesn't matter if a govt agency can crack the Skype encryption, as they wouldn't need to. Skype can be compelled by a court to turn over records of when and to whom you placed calls, and possibly even let LEOs eavesdrop. Getting copies of your call log is no big deal for any law enforcement agency.

If you want to be secure, you need to use Zfone. Zfone is not a VOIP client; it makes your VOIP client encrypted and protected from man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks. You'll need to find a VOIP client that is compatible with the Zfone software. Zfone will give you unbreakable encryption of your conversation, with perfect forward secrecy. Where it lacks is that it does not disguise that you were connected and using VOIP software. To do that, you would need to route your VOIP through something like TOR. The problem with this is that TOR will slow down your connection, which is probably not acceptable for voice communication.

Also, never use any VOIP software to call to a land or cell line. It will not be encrypted and it will be easily traceable.

Your best bet for secure communication is through chat or email.

If you're using chat, install Pidgin, and then install the Off The Record (OTR) plugin. This will give you chat over AIM, Yahoo, ICQ, etc, that is encrypted, offers perfect forward secrecy, and protection from MitM attacks. It's also super quick and easy to use.

For email, you'll want to implement public-key/private-key encryption. Start by installing Thunderbird, and the Enigmail plugin for it, and then install GnuPG. There's more to it, (like you have to generate and publish keys) but that gives you a pretty good idea of where to start.

Use TOR for all communications, be it chat, email, web browsing, etc. It's basically like a proxy, but more secure. Use https instead of http when a website offers it. Use TOR when creating and logging into accounts on forums and such.

And don't forget to encrypt your whole hard drive using Truecrypt (and to be even more secure, set up a Truecrypt hidden OS... google for step-by-step instructions).

Follow these steps, keep your computer secure with firewall and malware software, never reveal personally identifiable clues online, and you should be pretty darn safe.