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How Skype fixes security vulnerabilities

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Re: How Skype fixes security vulnerabilities

#101

Post by misingnoglic »

alkonaut wrote: post #16
illuminated wrote: post #2

Sadly, Skype is still used a lot. More than half of the emails I receive with a next step of communication proposal come suggesting Skype. The only way to beat it would be to have another communication solution which can be used as simple as Skype is (for any age, technical literacy, etc.).

This. People talk about various alternatives, but I haven't seen one. The requirements are pretty simple 1) Chat and group chat (persistent) 2) Simple file transfer and image posting in chat 3) Good quality voice calls, video calls and group voice calls 4) Apps for android/iOS with shared contact lists 5) Single application for all of the above (to enable a single group set, switching between group chat and group cal…

Have you tried Allo/Duo?

Re: How Skype fixes security vulnerabilities

#102

Post by antihero »

setq wrote: post #32
bad_user wrote: post #11

Last week Skype dropped 2/3 of my contacts list. I contacted their chat support to tell them about it. The person on the other end was insisting that I might be using another Skype account where my other contacts are. Which of course I ain't since I'm not that stupid. He then suggested the stupid bullshit Tier 1 support usually does, like reinstalling Skype. I did as asked. Then he asked me for remote control of my P…

I've dumped all of these services due to random crap like this. Phone, SMS, email or go away. They're not perfect but they are significantly better than anything else. However if you want a real turd: Skype for Business. Everything starts with 20 minutes trying to work out if it's working or not which for a random subset of people the answer is nope.

Phone and SMS are fucking useless if you spend any significant period of time using wifi without having signal (my office, the tube, etc.), and you have to pay to send images. SMS can go do one, to be honest.

Re: How Skype fixes security vulnerabilities

#103

Post by discreditable »

misingnoglic wrote: post #101
alkonaut wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. People talk about various alternatives, but I haven't seen one. The requirements are pretty simple 1) Chat and group chat (persistent) 2) Simple file transfer and image posting in chat 3) Good quality voice calls, video calls and group voice calls 4) Apps for android/iOS with shared contact lists 5) Single application for all of the above (to enable a single group set, switching between group chat and group cal…

Have you tried Allo/Duo?

Aren't those unavailable on desktop?

Re: How Skype fixes security vulnerabilities

#104

Post by tdkl »

marksamman wrote: post #48

I've been looking for a Skype alternative since the security of Skype was weakened after it was acquired by Microsoft. I've had my account stolen multiple times because their support has changed the primary e-mail address of my account, I had to use the same method the social engineers used to get my account back. Since then I've avoided sharing anything slightly sensitive over Skype, as chat history is synced with a…

Wire also recently added an username feature[1], where you choose a certain username and don't need to disclose your name or phone number for others to find you on it. This replaced looking up contacts per e-mail.

[1] https://medium.com/wire-news/time-to-get-your-username-3a54f...

Re: How Skype fixes security vulnerabilities

#105

Post by dirtbox »

dirtbox wrote: post #83

Last year I discovered a bug that allowed you to call someone's phone and remotely activate it's camera and mic by disconnecting the call while it was ringing - the target's device would simply call you back as if it were a dropped call. They fixed it, but boy that was a doozy.

Oh god, haha! Someone picked up my original post about it on reddit and wrote an article including my original drawing.

http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/12/22/security-hole-skype-...

Ed: Oh my word, hundreds of phone, tech and malware blogs picked up on it all over the world. I didn't have a clue.

Re: How Skype fixes security vulnerabilities

#106

Post by sprite »

My account on Skype seems to have gotten some sort of shadowban. I don't show up when people search for me and when I send people a contact request it shows as sent on my side but the other person never receives it. I can communicate fine with my existing contacts.

Re: How Skype fixes security vulnerabilities

#108

Post by s_kilk »

andybak wrote: post #86

Mods removed "(They don't)" or similar from the title. Before they did this I think it more accurately reflected the intent of the original author as this is the prominent subtitle on the page. Without this it makes the article sounds much less interesting.

What is the deal with the low-quality title editing on here? So often we see good, informative titles get mindlessly edited to match the `` tag of the target page.

Re: How Skype fixes security vulnerabilities

#109

Post by tetrep »

walrus01 wrote: post #91
mschuster91 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The solution is simple: Hire support people - and both train and allow them to deviate from the usual support flowcharts. Oh, and check if they actually speak English well enough to communicate with customers. As a customer, I instantly notice outsourced callcenters.

The solution is not simple, if you're on the business management side and need to concern yourself with the fully loaded yearly office space, overhead, payroll/benefits cost of hiring hundreds of well trained, motivated, educated, english speaking customer support reps to support your 20+ million "free" customers...

Simple and cheap are not the same. The solution is simple, it's just also expensive. This is the general "problem" with customer support, good support is not cheap, nor is cheap support good.

Re: How Skype fixes security vulnerabilities

#110

Post by TeMPOraL »

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #100
andybak wrote: post #86

Mods removed "(They don't)" or similar from the title. Before they did this I think it more accurately reflected the intent of the original author as this is the prominent subtitle on the page. Without this it makes the article sounds much less interesting.

When I read the title without the They don't in it I thought sarcastically to myself "They don't".

I literally did the same when I read the title. I guess Skype has done a lot to earn the snark.
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