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Cyber Risks · Krebs on Security

Privacy 101: Skype Leaks Your Location

Summary: Skype exposes users' numeric Internet addresses to anyone who supplies their Skype account name, and dozens of free and commercial "Skype resolver" services now exploit this by using a modified Skype client (versions 5.5 or 5.9) to write the target's IP address into a plain-text debug log. The resolvers work regardless of the privacy settings a user selects in Skype's configuration panel, and Microsoft, which bought Skype in 2011, said it was investigating reports of the tools while calling it an ongoing, industry-wide issue faced by all peer-to-peer software companies.

What you should know: Resolvers are typically sold alongside "booter" or "stresser" services rented to launch denial-of-service attacks, so anyone who wants to knock a target offline can find their IP through Skype first - and the same lookup lets stalkers or corporate rivals track executives as they travel between cities and states.

Read the original at Krebs on Security ↗

Topics
Data Breaches
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