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Skype Remains Insecure Under Secret Court Order

December 30, 2014

Der Spiegel revealed Skype's lack of security as the lead story of a recent article after review of more documents released by Edward Snowden. We’ve been lecturing for a long time that communications via Skype are not secure. Der Spiegel has confirmed the falsity of Microsoft’s claim that they “…will not provide governments with direct or unfettered access to customer data or encryption keys.” The NSA has had access to Skype communications even prior to the February 2011 secret U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court order – which is still in effect. Several other technologies thought to be safe (VPNs, SSL, TLS, IPSec, etc.) are commonly sniffed by the NSA.

The good news is that there are encryption products that will protect your data and drive the NSA batty. The previous version of Truecrypt (version 7.1a) has caused “major” problems for the NSA and is far more secure than the current version, believed to have “backdoor” access as a result of governmental pressure. Another product that has stood the test of time is Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) created by Phil Zimmerman in 1991. Phil is currently involved in the development of the Blackphone, which is a cellular device designed to safeguard your data through encrypted storage and communication. The government tried to pressure Zimmerman to build a backdoor into PGP, which he flatly refused to do and he ultimately published the source code.

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