Hackers highlight major Skype security hole

Russian hackers bypass security measures with just an email address

Skype disabled its password recovery function after Russian hackers exposed a major flaw in the service's security.
Update: We've been in touch with Skype to find out more. The company told us, "Early this morning we were notified of user concerns surrounding the security of the password reset feature on our website.
"This issue affected some users where multiple Skype accounts were registered to the same email address. We suspended the password reset feature temporarily this morning as a precaution and have made updates to the password reset process today so that it is now working properly."
Skype has said it is now getting in touch with users who have been affected by today's security issues so if you don't hear from the company, you should be safe.
Original story continues:
It was discovered that hackers were able to access Skype users' accounts armed with just their username and the email address linked to the account.
The Microsoft-owned VoIP service was forced to issue a statement acknowledging the hole, saying, "We have had reports of a new security vulnerability issue."

Vulnerability issue

"As a precautionary step we have temporarily disabled password reset as we continue to investigate the issue further. We apologise for the inconvenience but user experience and safety is our first priority"
Although hackers would need to know your Skype username and email address to access your account, those concerned are advised to change the email address their account is registered to.
It hasn't been a particularly good week for Microsoft on the security front: yesterday it was reported that a 16-year-old had managed to create a prototype Trojan for Windows Phone 8.

Skype and the Olympics

Heather McPhie is an Olympic freestyle skier, who competed in the Ladies’ Moguls in Vancouver this year. I invited her to write about her experience of the Olympics and of Skype. Watch out for the second post about her competition day in the coming weeks.

One of my favorite things about the Olympics is the sense of connection. Athletes, staff, family, fans, and Olympic enthusiasts from all over the world coming together to watch the dreams and dedication of the worlds top athletes. When I say coming together I do not mean solely the people who travel to the Olympics; I mean everyone who watches, thinks about, and becomes involved in the Olympics and what it represents. In my opinion it does not matter which athletes or what country you are cheering for or representing, it matters that you are part of it. It matters that the world is coming together to celebrate something positive.

My world has exponentially expanded from becoming an Olympian. The amount of people I have gotten to meet, who have sent me encouraging words and been a part of my journey so far have made me feel more a part of the whole than ever. Made me feel closer to my hometown, my family and friends, my country and the world.

What an amazing gift to be able to connect people. Skype does that for me almost every day, and especially when I am on the road, away from many of my family and friends. To be able to see my sister and my nephew the morning of my event at the Olympics meant the world to me. I got a cyber hug from my sister, and got to listen to my nephew babble and laugh and play. To listen to my friend Susan talk about her Heather McPhie Olympic party in Park City and getting to Skype with people during the event brought tears to my eyes. It is an amazing sense of support and comfort to me, and I think of all the ways it has positively affected my life and I can not imagine how many other people feel the same way.

Pursuing my dreams in freestyle mogul skiing has taught me so much about myself, and taken me all over the world. It has been a wonderful journey, but also one that has felt lonely at times. My trip to Olympics and the coming World Cups has me away from home for two months. That is a long time for me to not see my family and friends. Skype has shortened the distance, made it easier for me to feel a part of things at home, while being on the road.

SKYPE News - NYU-Poly to Highlight Skype Vulnerabilities

Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU-Poly) has announced that the university’s colleagues in France and Germany will soon intimate Internet scholars of flaws in Skype (News - Alert) and other Internet-based phone systems.
During the Internet Measurement Conference 2011 in Berlin on November 2, 2011, their paper, “I Know Where You are and What You are Sharing,” will be presented. The authors are Chao Zhang and Keith Ross of NYU-Poly; Stevens Le Blond of the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems (MPI-SWS), Germany; and Arnaud Legout and Walid Dabbous of the French research institute I.N.R.I.A Sophia Antipolis, university stated in a press release.
“These findings have real security implications for the hundreds of millions of people around the world who use VoIP or P2P file-sharing services,” said Ross, the Leonard J. Shustek Professor of Computer Science at NYU-Poly. “A hacker anywhere in the world could easily track the whereabouts and file-sharing habits of a Skype user – from private citizens to celebrities and politicians – and use the information for purposes of stalking, blackmail or fraud.”
Apart from tracking their peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing activity, the team uncovered several properties of Skype that can track ly users' locations over time, stated Ross. It does not prevent the privacy risk, even when a user blocks callers or connects from behind a Network Address Translation (NAT) – a common type of firewall.
In February 2011, the university received $500,000 grant from Brooklyn Community Foundation to encourage student to take up careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), two Brooklyn institutions have extended their partnership.
It is considered that this grant could triple the number of under-resourced central Brooklyn elementary, middle and high schools that employ students' fascination with robots to engage their interest in STEM subjects.