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Skype is being enlisted by the Taliban for being an easy to use, widely available method that lets their fighters communicate undetected by intelligence services. Speaking last night, British security sources singled out Skype as one provider of low-cost internet calls which, unlike traditional mobile calls, are highly encrypted. In their disclosure, the security official reportedly told a national paper that insurgents across Afghanistan were using ‘internet phones’ to connect their nationwide cells. Conventional calls can be monitored by RAF Nimrod spy planes, but Skype calls are sent as data over the Web and then reassembled into voice by the receiver’s computer. An absence of legislation, which the government wants, to force internet service providers to log all their customers’ web activity has forced another approach. According to the Mail on Sunday, which did not name its source, both British and American governments are investing considerable resources to crack Skype codes. “The trouble with this technology is that it is easily available but devilishly hard to crack,” the source said. “The technology can now be accessed on mobile internet devices”. The disclosures follow concerns over internet phones reportedly raised by Sir David Pepper, head of GCHQ, the surveillance arm of British intelligence. He warned MPs that the technology was ‘seriously undermining’ his organisation’s ability to intercept the communications of terrorist cells targeting British troops. Sep 15, 2008 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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