Chile Forum

Everyone bleieves that SKYPE is bullet proof. Now I have learned of the Pesky virues -skytap-and just old fashion WIFI cracking..Yes Skype can be monitered very easily, like a mobile phone. Any victims?

This has nothing to do with skype program or hacking the skype encryption,

if you understand how the actual trojan worked, you would realise it captures your mic and headphone output/input...........

that means it can tap any audio on your computer, doesnt matter of the program that is been run,

At the end of the day, idiots get viruses, the people who click on links they shouldnt, or the people who share USB devices, or the people who dont use firewalls, or dont keep antivirus and windows updates up to date....

so, this is just a normal every day, virus warning, nothing to do with skype except the name.............

Also, Dont use wep encryptionon your home wifi, use WPA, and be carefull what you do on a WIFI that has no password to connect, they are the easiest to hack i.e if a hotel has wifi that does not require a password, be careful, if it requires a password, you have a level of protection!

also, with WiFi, it's better to have MAC address filtering set, so that only the devices you know about can connect to your network. And like zer0nz says, never do your banking on a public Internet connection (cyber cafes included!)

Thanks.. Are you two gentlemen suggesting that SKYPE can not be cracked? I always thought that lab tops and WIFI broadcast are the easist to monitor.

What was said before, it was not Skype encryption that was compromised, it was the microphone on your computer so it was an OS hack.

But I wonder about Skype now that an evil giant acquired it.

Basic public wifi security is to not use a site that is not https encrypted from login (be careful as some sites do not have that part encrypted) through the entire session (some sites have https login but then revert to http for the session).

If you need to type a site password or info that is not encrypted, you should at least use HotSpot Shield or proXPN or a VPN service or your own VPN.

Always assume the NSA has the backdoor to everything so it is only public and private entities below that level that you are actively protecting yourself against.

eeuunikkeiexpat wrote:If you need to type a site password or info that is not encrypted...

They can see it through your window from a sat. If not -- they can record the sound of your clicking when you type, they can tell each character of your keyboard by sound. If you need to type a site password do not THINK about it, they can capture and record your thoughts. Regardless of your tinfoil hat -- they use a very special frequency, it goes through tinfoil hats.

And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking
And racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in the relative way, but you're older
And shorter of breath and one day closer to death

many thanks dear Rune...
but, please...
we like Time to begin at the beginning...?

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way

Slightly tangential but I think the original point has been answered... I'm wondering whether anyone has found a good alternative to Skype from Chile that uses SIP rather than some proprietary protocol/software?

A couple of years ago I used Wengophone for Internet-to-phone calls, but they went down the pan a while ago and when it did work the quality was fairly often worse than Skype. Their software is still available in the form of Qutecom though (spelling?) I then looked around for another phone gateway service and tried diamondcard, which was associated with Ekiga (H323+SIP phone software), but the quality was often very poor from Chile. Finally I gave in and used Skype, as I couldn't easily find a Chilean VOIP service for individual subscribers. I remember Vonage being mentioned here in the past, but I think that requires some gadget from the US(?). I also think Google's phone service has started working now (it was suspended for some time after they acquired the company they got it from), so that might be worth a try.

Cheers,

James.

jehturner wrote:Slightly tangential but I think the original point has been answered... I'm wondering whether anyone has found a good alternative to Skype from Chile that uses SIP rather than some proprietary protocol/software?

A couple of years ago I used Wengophone for Internet-to-phone calls, but they went down the pan a while ago and when it did work the quality was fairly often worse than Skype. Their software is still available in the form of Qutecom though (spelling?) I then looked around for another phone gateway service and tried diamondcard, which was associated with Ekiga (H323+SIP phone software), but the quality was often very poor from Chile. Finally I gave in and used Skype, as I couldn't easily find a Chilean VOIP service for individual subscribers. I remember Vonage being mentioned here in the past, but I think that requires some gadget from the US(?). I also think Google's phone service has started working now (it was suspended for some time after they acquired the company they got it from), so that might be worth a try.

Cheers,

James.

ill try and remember tomorrow to look up the chilean VOIP provider, one of our clients uses them because they charge in pesos and send you a factura, and price at the same as skype!!! they have a device that has 2 phone ports that connects to the phone system, you dial 8 or something for an international line then it goes out by voip,

VOIP its self has many different levels of quality, and you can use any of many different voip clients (Google voice is standard voip for example), and can set many different protocols..

Thanks. Yes, one of the problems seems to be that free software doesn't get the same quality because it has to avoid patented codecs that VOIP hardware and Skype presumably pay for... Then there's also whatever arrangements Skype has with large providers to ensure they have enough points of presence. Having a hardware connection to a local provider might be convenient as long as I'm not travelling. Do they have some fixed charge/subscription as well?

jehturner wrote:Thanks. Yes, one of the problems seems to be that free software doesn't get the same quality because it has to avoid patented codecs that VOIP hardware and Skype presumably pay for... Then there's also whatever arrangements Skype has with large providers to ensure they have enough points of presence. Having a hardware connection to a local provider might be convenient as long as I'm not travelling. Do they have some fixed charge/subscription as well?

http://www.redvoiss.net

thats it, the price without iva is about the same as skype, but with iva it is more expensive, so its really good for people who have a business here in chile that can deduct the iva as a operating expense and it balances out!