Networks beware: Skype 3.0 includes new cloaking technology

Network administrators worried about the security hole Skype represents have a new headache today: Just-released Skype 3.0 includes new cloaking technology that makes it harder to detect than ever.

So reports Asterisk VoIP News, citing information from the Skype-blocking company iPoque. A variety of changes have been made to cloak the software. It's been changed so that intrusion protection systems are less likely to find it, for example.

In addition, packet length has been changed, as has the way the software opens encrypted UDP channels to other Skype clients. Skype-blocking filters use these kinds of patterns to detect Skype, but will not be able to do it any longer.

Skype can be a danger to networks in a variety of ways. It may present a backdoor through which hackers can crawl, for example. In addition, Skype use, like other peer-to-peer technologies, can suck up bandwidth.

There are potential compliance issues as well. Emails, instant messages, and other electronic communications are required to be kept by law or corporate policy in certain instances. Skype could fall under those rules...but there's no way for corporations to currently save Skype communications.

The upshot? If you're a network sys admin, your life just got tougher. So what else is new?