Research Group Calls For Ban on Corporate Skype Usage

[mandy]

In a research note prepared for Info-Tech Research Group members, Armstrong outlines five reasons for an enterprise to ban Skype:

    -  Skype is not standards-compliant, allowing it and any vulnerability to
       pass through corporate firewalls.
    -  Skype's encryption is closed source and prone to man-in-the-middle
       attacks. There are also some unanswered questions about how well the
       keys are managed.
    -  Enterprises using Skype risk a communication barrier with countries
       and institutions that have already banned the service.
    -  Skype is undetectable, untraceable, and unauditable, putting
       organizations that are subject to compliance laws at risk.
    -  The question of whether VoIP calls constitute a business record is a
       legal quagmire. Throwing Skype into the communications mix further
       clouds the issue.

Comments Armstrong, "The bottom line is that even a mediocre hacker could take advantage of a Skype vulnerability...

full press release: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/051110/to217.html?.v=15

article:  Should businesses ban Skype? Or is it enough to police usage?

Skype's security holes may not threaten businesses more than those in IM or email, Armstrong explained, "but because Skype is new, the vulnerabilities might not be as well known".

http://www.silicon.com/research/specialr...106,00.htm

[rose]

Should businesses ban Skype? Or is it enough to police usage?

Ban it until they have a policy and systems in place to police it.

[bargainbloodhound]

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[mandy]

Amid rising concerns about the privacy and security implications of using peer-to-peer communications tools in the enterprise, IT managers are beginning to block the use of such services, even as vendors begin to roll out technologies to address the problems.

Officials at Skype Technologies S.A., maker of the popular VOIP (voice over IP) tool, admit that their technology is not designed to be an enterprise-grade tool and say that IT administrators are free to block its use if they are concerned.

full article: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1891306,00.asp