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Skype protocol reverse engineered, source available

skype-open-source.blogspot.com

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Re: Skype protocol reverse engineered, source available

#131

Post by tptacek »

comex wrote: post #127
tptacek wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not true of "Advanced" either (all "Advanced" does is give you x86-64 and a bunch of exotic architectures; "Advanced" is a price segregation scheme, not a community safeguard).

No, it is true for Advanced; they will only sell it to entities they've dealt with before.

I mean you would know, I know, and we've been customers for awhile so maybe they just don't bat an eye, but I just assumed everyone bought Advanced now. How do you not have x64?

You really think this is because they want to safeguard the public or something?

Re: Skype protocol reverse engineered, source available

#132

Post by gcb »

mihaelamj wrote: post #105
gcb wrote: post #97

So microsoft really bought skype and is already playing the bait-and-switch game?!

Microsoft bought Skype to kill Asterisk (since Cisco is not a competition really). Skype for Asterisk project killed, will stop working in 2 years

...i was mostly making a joke. but this indeed is a classical bait-and-switch move. no clue what microsoft is trying to kill. but i bet it's google voice.

Re: Skype protocol reverse engineered, source available

#133

Post by bergie »

pyre wrote: post #63
foxhill wrote: post #43

aside from the awesome technical exersize in hacking, i don't see this as any net benefit for VOIP. the time would have been much better spent working on the GNU VOIP client, not only would improvements have been usable without legal issues, they would be there in an (ostensibly, perhaps) understandable format - working code.

They could reverse engineer and document the firewall/nat negotiation bit, which could then be incorporated into the GNU client.

The right way to go about that would be to have a Telepathy provider that talks Skype.

That is actually how Skype works in N900, but the implementation there is obviously proprietary.

Re: Skype protocol reverse engineered, source available

#134

Post by skypeopensource »

jcr wrote: post #70
VMG wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you assume the tools are pirated?

I think you actually want two answers, the question you asked and "why report it?" The IDA Pro disassembler and the Hex-Rays decompiler are not only very expensive tools, but they are very difficult to purchase. Due to constant problems with piracy, these days they will only sell their products to three areas; (1) governments/law enforcement, (2) very well established corporations (typically well known security resea…

You are completely right. But why so serious? This is just tools for make peoples happy.

Re: Skype protocol reverse engineered, source available

#136

Post by varjag »

evanwolf wrote: post #123
mihaelamj wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft bought Skype to kill Asterisk (since Cisco is not a competition really). Skype for Asterisk project killed, will stop working in 2 years

>Microsoft bought Skype to kill Asterisk (since Cisco is not a competition really) Um, how does this make any sense?

It doesn't. Asterisk hums happily in million entry-level PBXes around the world and will likely continue to dominate the niche. I fail to see how it really can even be seen as Skype competitor.

Re: Skype protocol reverse engineered, source available

#137

Post by nikcub »

two things:

1. I would love it if MSFT, as the new owner, gave up on the cat-and-mouse of security through obscurity and obfuscation and settled on a published and peer-reviewed protocol. I am sick of the memory footprint and cpu spikes in having to run skype clients because 70% of its resources are dedicated to hiding what is really going on. I would love a nice, clean, light version

2. we can well assume that if this is happening in the public domain then it was probably done a few years ago behind closed doors at the NSA et al

Re: Skype protocol reverse engineered, source available

#138

Post by jrockway »

jcr wrote: post #44

I wouldn't venture to say this doesn't belong on HN since it really is interesting (if it was actually done correctly), but the files available for download are most likely illegal, were most likely created with pirated tools (IDA Pro/Hex-Rays, and yes, as a customer of theirs for over a dozen years I've reported it), and of course, the usual vilification of reverse engineering. If you're reading this on a desktop or…

Who cares? It's done now. Time continues on; use it or don't use it.

Re: Skype protocol reverse engineered, source available

#139

Post by ysangkok »

eleusive wrote: post #36
VMG wrote: post #20

How easy is it for skype to change the protocol?

Not very easy if they want to maintain compatibility with existing clients (especially considering they haven't updated their linux client for years now).

The latest Linux version is from April this year.

Re: Skype protocol reverse engineered, source available

#140

Post by Joeboy »

__rkaup__ wrote: post #121
Joeboy wrote: post #35

From what I understand, the big unsolved problem open VOIP options have isn't the voice bit, it's negotiating a connection through NAT/firewalls/dodgy routers etc. I doubt this helps with those problems.

What makes VoIP different from any other protocols, like HTTP?

I won't pretend to have any actual expertise on the subject, but here is some relevant discussion by someone that does:

http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2170464&cid=36...

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