Skype allows hackers to find out what you have downloaded from BitTorrent

A group of security researchers in an effort to prove safety oversight in Skype, managed to create a system that allows them to identify the IP address of any Skype user without his knowledge, to reveal its location, and to follow all share documents coming from that IP address. Through this security failure, anyone can find out what Skype users download via BitTorrent.

Researchers have found a way to contact the Skype users, without being noticed, and thus to learn the IP address, and then used to determine their geographical position, and their use of BitTorrent. According to study researchers, the method for collecting IP addresses works even when Skype users have configured their account to accept calls only from those who have in  the list of contacts. Also works well when users are not logged on to Skype.

To prove the security flaws, researchers gathered 10.000 IP addresses at random, and to link these addresses with documents downloaded from BitTorrent, created specific tools to identify the IP addresses from more BitTorrent sites, and after that, they compared them with already collected IP addresses. Whenever you saw the same IP address, Skype tool to reveal the profile using BitTorrent. Even if the IP address was shared by several users on a network, the system could link unique Skype account with a download.

This security failure would really served the entertainment industry companies who want to stop illegal downloading files. Responsible for security in Skype, Adrian Asher, has said that they respected the privacy of their customers and are committed to make their product more secure as possible, but that any Internet communication software allows to detect the IP address with someone  you communicate.