Skype Taunted By Hackers

Although no user information was stolen during the latest cyber attack, Microsoft is still reeling in damage from the attack made by the Syrian Electronic Army on Wednesday. The publicity minded group S.E.A choose to target Skype’s blog, Facebook page and Twitter account posting messages reading “Stop spying on people” and “Hacked by Syrian Electronic Army.. Stop Spying”. These attacks come at the start of a new year after the 2013 mid year surveillance controversy brought to light by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

Information leaked by Snowden showed that Skype installed a “backdoor” that enabled the NSA to monitor Skype Video and Audio Calls. Officials in Luxembourg where Skype is based at, are looking into whether Skype has shared information with NSA on its Luxembourgian users. Skype isn’t the only one in hot water at the moment over these “back doors”, with Yahoo, Facebook and Apple also reportedly having “back doors” that allow the NSA surveillance over users online presence and conversations. It’s not just the Microsoft owned Skype that was targeted, with Skype’s Facebook profile having a broader message posted on it’s page saying;

“Don’t use Microsoft emails (Hotmail, Outlook), they are monitoring your accounts and selling it to the governments. More details soon. #SEA”

This isn’t the first high profile attack the Syrian Electronic Army has achieved, with the SEA claiming credit for hacking websites such as Twitter, The New York Times, Thompson Reuters and the BBC. they have also claimed credit for hacking the messaging app Viber.

Thanks to CNET for the information provided

Images Courtesy of Canberra Times and AppleFrance