Skype replaces P2P supernodes with Linux boxes hosted by Microsoft
61–70 of 107 posts
Re: Skype replaces P2P supernodes with Linux boxes hosted by Microsoft
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
Frankly speaking I'm not familiar with IPv6 NAT. So to hide IPv6 corporate network structure it is necessary to send outside all IPv6 packets with one global address. Is this an only option? It should be possible to hide internal network structure with some address shuffling techniques.
IPv6 NAT (or, more precisely, PAT/NAPT) is pretty much identical to it's IPv4 ancestor. One external (globally routable) IP Address which represents the entirety of the internal IP address space. If you are on a corporate LAN, and your IPv6 address is from the RFC4193 range (it starts with "FD" e.g. FDC2:D343:1234:5678:..." ), and, you are accessing IPv6 resources outside your company, then some kind of PAT/NAT/Proxy…
BTW, next time you talk with the "address-hiding security" fans, check what result they get from http://panopticlick.eff.org/ - very curious!
Re: Skype replaces P2P supernodes with Linux boxes hosted by Microsoft
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
Or instead of engaging in conspiracy theores with zero proof we should look at whats going on here rationally. Skype is really unacceptable in any corporate environment. I don't want a random PC on my network to be a superpeer and suddenly use my 50mbps connection routing calls to the world. Run skype for a couple of mins, fire up tcpview, and watch calls come in and out. Not only is this a waste of my resources it a…
He phrased it like a conspiracy theorist, but it's a little naive to think that intercept capability wasn't a factor in this decision. As far as I know skype was the biggest player in communications that wasn't being completely monitored.
Re: Skype replaces P2P supernodes with Linux boxes hosted by Microsoft
#64Everything Skype does will soon be replaced by WebRTC anyway.
I presume you mean this - http://www.webrtc.org/.
Is it just a more simple way of setting up chatroulette style sites only using browser native programming rather than relying on Flash?
Re: Skype replaces P2P supernodes with Linux boxes hosted by Microsoft
#65What alternatives to skype exist? Something that does voice, and not likely to invade my privacy.
I would recommend looking at something like Mumble http://mumble.sourceforge.net/ Assuming you are concerned about the code you run, the location you run it in, etc. Does not provide encryption to my knowledge, but VPN can solve that. If you are looking for something more robust that can interconnect with telecom stuff, I'd suggest http://www.freeswitch.org/ or http://www.asterisk.org/
Re: Skype replaces P2P supernodes with Linux boxes hosted by Microsoft
#66What alternatives to skype exist? Something that does voice, and not likely to invade my privacy.
Free SIP services are another option, but not easy enough for the novice who is in a hurry and just want things to work. Most people seem to use SIP servers operated by companies, not running the servers themselves. Some ISP's are selling pre-packed VOIP service (and some are deep inspecting every packet, lol).
Skype has the market now. It is ubiquitous. It's easy to use and works reasonably well.
But to think Skype will become the world's new default global communications channel, with MS in control, is just silly.
Skype is just a hint of what's possible, given today's bandwidth and a network that no one player controls.
Re: Skype replaces P2P supernodes with Linux boxes hosted by Microsoft
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would recommend looking at something like Mumble http://mumble.sourceforge.net/ Assuming you are concerned about the code you run, the location you run it in, etc. Does not provide encryption to my knowledge, but VPN can solve that. If you are looking for something more robust that can interconnect with telecom stuff, I'd suggest http://www.freeswitch.org/ or http://www.asterisk.org/
Mumble requires a server.
Re: Skype replaces P2P supernodes with Linux boxes hosted by Microsoft
#68Let me just make this very clear: you don't go from zero operating cost to multiple millions of hardware and colo space to do the very same thing, in a move so transparent that it needs security researchers to dig into your program to find out it has happened at all. I guess Skype (by extension, Microsoft) is growing interested in what people are speaking about. To get hold of that data you need to route it through y…
Re: Skype replaces P2P supernodes with Linux boxes hosted by Microsoft
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
IPv6 NAT (or, more precisely, PAT/NAPT) is pretty much identical to it's IPv4 ancestor. One external (globally routable) IP Address which represents the entirety of the internal IP address space. If you are on a corporate LAN, and your IPv6 address is from the RFC4193 range (it starts with "FD" e.g. FDC2:D343:1234:5678:..." ), and, you are accessing IPv6 resources outside your company, then some kind of PAT/NAT/Proxy…
The brilliant and problematic property of the translation (and why I think it will catch up) is that it allows to easily make your today's problems someone else's problems five years down the road. Noone gives a ding about what happens in five years in one's network - let alone the larger internet. BTW, next time you talk with the "address-hiding security" fans, check what result they get from http://panopticlick.eff…
I've never understood security professional who turn their nose up at the usefulness of using a non-routable IP address in your environment. It's always seemed self evident to me, that putting your resources on something like "192.168.1.5" - on an internal network, in addition to all of the other steps you take, would be yet another layer of defense that makes an attackers life difficult. And, in an enterprise environment, I would rather optimize for security than ease of two-way communication with external entities.
Re: Skype replaces P2P supernodes with Linux boxes hosted by Microsoft
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
But not large scale trawling of all call data or the ability to mirror all traffic to another location as far as I know.
Of course not; thats not "lawful interception" in the countries that Skype would market such services to. They don't have access to that large-scale data anyway, hence my comment on getting access to it by routing it through your own infrastructure.
The NSA is splitting signals and trawling everything for what they want, it's how it's done now. The recent wired article about the new datacentre was pretty interesting. Which was, as far as i know, not possible with the p2p architecture that skype had previously.