Skype may pose a hacker threat
Date: January 27, 2006Source: The Inquirer
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A boffin at Cambridge University says that the Voice over IP system used by Skype is a brilliant tool if you want to carry out denial-of-service attacks.
Jon Crowcroft claims Zombie networks could be controlled by messages hidden in VoIP traffic generated by programs such as Skype.
Currently DoS attacks are shut down by tracing control messages sent by chat and instant messaging programs. But if a hacker were to use a VoIP overlay as a control tool for attacks, it would be much harder to find the zombie computers, he said.
The use of such an overlay could also mean that hackers carrying out the DoS attacks could cover their tracks much better.
Crowscroft said it was a doddle to write that sort of code. He had done it and it had worked.
Apparently the security experts are a bit in advance of the hackers as they have not tried it yet.
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