skype... how secure is it?

[techidave]

i am not a skype user but we have a 3rd grade class wanting to communicate with a former classmate in Africa.  I am in concerned about bandwidth usage, network security amongst a few things.  I have googled this and also read some of the 2006 threads posted here on DC.
Time has moved on and supposedly software is more secure    so is there anything to be concerned about??

I am not trying to raise a dead horse here but am just trying to find some good hard facts.

Dave

[Deozaan]

Skype has been in the news recently. See item #7 here:

http://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=15211.0

Though, I use Skype and I really like it so far. I'm not sure how the security issues affect me though. 

[f0dder]

I wonder if the flaws mentioned here were ever fixed? I've always been wary of Skype. But if you stop it from running when not using it, and (if possible) run it with DropMyRights or similar, I don't think there's that much to worry about. I probably wouldn't talk about blowing up things through it, though

* f0dder polishes tinfoil hat

[Curt]

One weakness of Skype may be that the entire conversation is kept on Skype's servers. This feature is of course a strength, when you want to remind yourself of what was said or send, but in the worst case it may turn out to be a weakness if the server falls into in the hands of the wrong Big Brother. And because Skype now is owned by some commercial company, rather than by the guys who invented it, you may feel less certain about any future change of policy.

All this is of course not a problem of Skype's alone, but a problem in general.

I use Skype. 

[f0dder]

Curt: are the conversations kept on skype's servers? O_o

I thought the actual voice communication was done peer-to-peer. If the conversations are logged, well... hm. Not my cup of tea.

[Curt]

- sorry, I was ambiguous, because I don't 'voice' I forgot this is a major part of Skype. When I connect to a friend on Skype, I can call out the entire conversation we have TYPED from day one. My microphone has never been used on Skype, so I am not really sure how audible conversations are being handled by Skype.

[housetier]

I do not trust skype. I cannot make sure my data is really secure. We use it at work but only for general chit-chat, we do not send confidential or sensitive information.

If you want something like IRC but more secure have a look at silc.

If there is personal or other sensitive information involved: be paranoid!