Skype reverse engineering links. Charlie, what did you do now ? :)
Actually interesting to see how the news of an «event» flows. Everybody is watching everybody. We are all linked with the click of a mouse something flies around the earth at hyperspeed. I wonder how long it will take before this hit the main media, after all the blogs below are kind of geek stuff…. Not mainstream (enough). In this case I seem to have been the first to have been informed. Interesting. Nice of all the other bloggers to mention the source. Allthought I think information like this does not flow in a line, it flows in a circle, a sphere and then once it hits the surface somewhere it goes into vertical and horizontal exponential explosion. After about 10 hours or less it becomes untraceable where what originated. It will certainly not be easy for researcher to understand the chronology, but the big pattern will be visible. Here goes. It is interesting to see the difference in interpretation. Also show the moderated opinionated positions and perception of each and one of us on the line. Anyways if you look for the words «skype cracked» (news) or «skype reverse engineered» (news) on google you will see an increasing number of articles appearing on that issue. Follow the links.
Originally something was published here : http://www.voipwiki.com/blog/?p=16 and floated to the surface at http://www.9skype.com/e_1073.html. But not many have seen the executable yet that claims to do what is says it does : acces the Skype P2P cloud without the original Skype.exe itself.
1st news-line : http://gigaom.com/2006/07/13/skype-cracked
«Can Skype be reverse engineered? That has been the $2.6 billion dollar question Skype watchers often ask themselves. Alec Saunders points to this blog post by Charlie Paglee that claims that a bunch of chinese engineers have done exactly that - cracked Skype.
The hacked clients cannot act as super nodes, the said blog notes, quoting the CEO of the unnamed Chinese company. In other words, the said clients could ride the Skype network without doing any heavy lifting of their own. Virus has mutated, and the parasite has a parasite.
It is hard to vouch for the authenticity of this claim; though if they can reverse engineer stuff like Blackberry, router software and what not, this is not that outrageous a claim. We have contacted Skype PR seeking comment. That said, if the crack is true, then it could have some detrimental impact on the Skype and eBay.»
2nd news line : http://saunderslog.com/2006/07/13/skype-cracked
«According to reports coming from Asia, the Skype protocol has been reverse engineered. The work was done in China, which, notorious for it’s lack of intellectual property protection, probably guarantees that it can’t be thwarted by legal means. The crackers are promising it will be available commercially by end of thie month.
Interestingly enough, the hacked clients cannot act as supernodes. Effectively, they are freeloading on the PC super nodes out there. Impact? Still unknown, but the speculation is that this could slow down the Skype network.
One wonders who Ebay will respond. My opinion? The smartest thing now would be to publish the specs for the protocol, and attempt to retain control through attractively priced marketing campaigns.»
3d news line : http://www.skypejournal.com/blog/archives/2006/07/skype_protocols_opening_up_ready_or_not.php
«The VoIPWiki Blog reports a Chinese 
firm reverse engineered Skype's communications protocol. It allows Skype-to-compatible softphone calls.This is credible; I've talked with a member of the team that built a Skype-compatible softphone. They hope to go public by month end. We're eager to discover if they will publish the protocols, offer Skype-compatible consumer software, offer Skype-compatible engineering products to other developers, sell their firm to a bigger company, or simply offer consulting services.
I've also used a demo version of software that crawls the Skype cloud, downloading profile data. From another group. This is not "the Skype database" but the natural white-page listing that all users put in their public profile. Skype's servers, and the financial data kept there, are not touched by this system. Screenshots:
Both systems build on detailed knowledge of Skype network parts not on Skype's servers.To build a Skype-compatible client, they had to figure out:
- how to see and navigate through the Skype cloud, to find a Skype client.
- publish their own client's profile into the Skype cloud, so a Skype client could find them
- negotiate starting the call session, including encryption and
Publishing the Skype calling protocol would create new opportunities for products and developers:
- Third parties can build Skype connectivity into their own software, no longer requiring an official Skype client.
- It may open up creation of Skype-compatible server software. So your salesforce system could IM you.
- It could open up Skype to PBX integration. So you might preserve Skype identity, authentication, encryption, and presence while routed through an Asterisk server.
The profile probe is a slightly different issue. In this case, software that mines the Skype cloud for profile data is working with "dirty data." The collection is unverified, often clearly faked (an unbelievable number of people live in Antarctica), old, and incomplete. It does have some gems. Correction: The cloud has email addresses, hidden in the Skype user interface but used to locate friends. The cloud has email addresses, but they are hashed and not human readable.
I'm not sitting at the management table, but Skype has several choices.
Open. They're already on the path to opening up more of their apps at the API level. Skype could embrace this at the protocol level too. This is the hardest thing to do, but may pay off in the long run. Exposing these protocols is the only way for the Skype network to become an industry standard. And it would put Skype in a position of leadership the way Microsoft is for dot net, Sun is for Java, and Adobe is for Flash.
Switch. Skype could change the protocols, breaking the new software. This is a costly and temporary solution; tricky but doable. Replacing Skype clients for updates is hard enough; getting everyone to migrate could kill the brand love. It won't be long until the Chinese engineers figure out how to get in again.
Quash. Skype might try to blow out the startup's fire. eBay has a powerful combination of PR, lobbyists, litigators, and business allies. Even in China. Skype could try to accuse the startup of piracy. My guess is Skype will tread litely. These tactics rarely work in China and often tarnish the reputation of the outsider applying the pressure.
Ignore. Skype has enough to do. Wait and see.
Invest. Buy the team, put them to work.
Jim Courtney says technology does not a brand make. It takes quality control, aesthetics, user experience, customer services, an ecosystem of ancillary products, and integration with other systems. Skype's and eBay's marketing are a higher barrier to entry than technology.
Skype personnel were not available for comment. Hat tips to 9Skype, Jan Geirnaert in Malaysia and Lee Dryburgh in Austria.»
4th newsline : http://buckenfush.blogspot.com – Skype Protocol Reverse Engineered
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