PGP VOIP - Privacy Encryption and Security

 Skype plans to address the concerns of some IT managers by improving its identity authentication process.

Part of Skype's "wish list" for further expansion into the business market is to enhance username authentication for business customers, the voice over Internet Protocol company said Wednesday.

"There's a lot of leverage space in the identity segment," Kurt Sauer, chief security officer for Skype, told ZDNet UK.

One security concern for IT managers is that while Skype uses an encrypted public key infrastructure, it automatically authenticates users itself. This means that users cannot authenticate the identity of the people they are communicating with.

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Interesting presentation from blackhat.com on skype vulnerabilities, session encryption etc:

The suspect, working with at least one confederate, was said to have illegally tapped into the lines of legitimate Internet phone companies, saddling them with the expense of extra traffic, while he collected more than $1 million in connection fees.

The case, one of the first involving Internet phone hacking, illustrated how Internet-based communications may be criminally exploited and raises fresh questions about the security of phone traffic over largely unregulated networks.

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