Hacked Skype IP Address Search Shows Who's Speaking From Where

mask.of.sanity writes "An online search portal has been launched that reveals the IP addresses of any Skype user. The portal needs only a Skype username entered in a search bar for it to produce the IP address of a target user. It then uses IP addresses to geo-locate users on a map and reveal their ISP information."

Re:not surprising

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, the service works by sending the owner of the username a contact-info request (used for instance while searching for users to add to your contact list). The difference from what you mentions is that the target is not notified in any way (as opposed from when sending them a message or calling them), and also have no option to block the request.

Re:not surprising

[Anonymous Coward]

The servers are used to facilitate UDP Hole Punching. Once the NAT/Firewall has been bypassed the communicate is direct.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UDP_hole_punching

Skype replaces P2P supernodes with Linux boxes

[readandburn]

http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2012/05/skype-replaces-p2p-supernodes-with-linux-boxes-hosted-by-microsoft.ars [arstechnica.com]