Skype Blog

[Anthony Small]

Ichallenged myself this summer. I decided that I was going to seek out instructional leaders making a difference in education. I wanted the selections to be people I have never met in person. So I scratched off Steven Anderson, Tom Whitby, Lyn Hilt, Joe Mazza, Ned Kirsch, Katrina Stevens, and Eric Sheninger (All folks I met in person at ASCD 12). They are making a difference in education. I wanted a real challenge for myself since I am somewhat new to all of this. I wanted to connect online, Skype, write, reflect, learn, and post. Here is the first in the series.

So as we go through the summer, know that George will be in Australia (and I am sure blogging and posting), and we can continue to follow his journey. What I think we can all learn from George is for us to be real, and even vulnerable in our blogs, leadership positions, classrooms, and even at home. You never know who you may help out.

Although I am employed by the Millville Public School District, this blog does not express the opinions of the Millville Public School District. If you would like more information on the school district, please visit www.millvillenj.gov.

While Zoom may have popularized the use of virtual backgrounds, platforms like Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and even Skype work with virtual backgrounds too. Whether you're looking to add a touch of professionalism to your video meetings or simply want to hide that pile of laundry in the background, virtual backgrounds on Skype can help you achieve just that. In this blog post, we'll explore how to harness the power of virtual backgrounds on Skype to enhance your video conferencing experience.

The short answer is yes! Whether you're conducting an important business meeting or attending a virtual happy hour, virtual backgrounds on Skype can elevate your online presence and provide a layer of privacy to your personal space when using the desktop app for Windows or Mac. Skype does not support custom virtual backgrounds when using the web app.

Skype uses a locally stored HTML file to display chat messages from other Skype users, but it fails to properly encode the incoming users "Full Name", allowing an attacker to craft malicious JavaScript code that runs when the victim views the message.

Executing arbitrary Javascript code is one thing, but I found that Skype also improperly defines the URI scheme used by the built-in webkit browser for Skype. Usually you will see the scheme set to something like, "about:blank" or "skype-randomtoken", but in this case it is actually set to "file://". This gives an attacker access to the users file system, and an attacker can access any file that the application itself would be able to access.

File system access is partially mitigated by the iOS Application sandbox that Apple has implemented, preventing an attacker from accessing certain sensitive files. However, every iOS application has access to the users AddressBook, and Skype is no exception. I created a proof of concept injection and attack that shows that a users AddressBook can indeed be stolen from an iPhone or iPod touch with this vulnerability.

The campaign of attacks targeting Syrian opposition activists on the Internet has taken a new turn. Since the beginning of the year, Syrian opposition activists have been targeted using several Trojans, which covertly install spying software onto the infected computer, as well as a multitude of YouTube and Facebook login credentials. Last week, TrendMicro's Malware Blog described a website which purportedly offered Skype encryption software, but was actually a Trojan that installed DarkComet 3.3, a remote administration tool that allows an attacker to capture webcam activity, disable the notification setting for certain antivirus programs, record key strokes, steal passwords, and more--and sends that sensitive information to an address in Syrian IP space. This week, EFF has found an almost identical website located at -encryption.sytes.net/, shown in the screenshot below.

When you click "Encrypt," the application launches a message asking you to please wait while it encrypts your connection, shown in the screenshot below. To be clear, this application does not encrypt anything. Instead of encrypting your Skype traffic, the application downloads a Trojan from This is the same Syrian IP address used in attacks described by TrendMicro, Symantec, Cyber Arabs, and in several of EFF's blog posts.

In the meantime, this application installs the DarkComet remote access tool on your computer. DarkComet allows an attacker to capture webcam activity, disable the notification setting for certain antivirus programs, record key strokes, and steal passwords from your computer. Unlike the version of DarkComet described in the TrendMicro post, which is detectable by some anti-virus software, this version of DarkComet is not detectable by any anti-virus software at this time. For a detailed discussion of how to find and remove DarkComet from your computer, see this blog post.

Syrian Internet users should be especially careful about downloading applications from unfamiliar websites. The fake Skype encryption site showed many obvious signs that it might not be legitimate, from the misspelling of "encryption" to the abuse of Comic Sans, but we can expect future attacks to be more sophisticated.

At a virtual briefing today, experts from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Access Now, Derechos Digitales, Human Rights Watch, and the International Fund for Public Interest Media outlined the human rights risks posed by the proposed UN Cybercrime Treaty. They explained that the draft convention, instead of addressing core cybercrimes,...

With the final negotiating session to approve the UN Cybercrime Treaty just days away, EFF and 21 international civil society organizations today urgently called on delegates from EU states and the European Commission to push back on the draft convention's many flaws, which include an excessively broad scope that...

This is the third post in a series highlighting flaws in the proposed UN Cybercrime Convention. Check out Part I, our detailed analysis on the criminalization of security research activities, and Part II, an analysis of the human rights safeguards.As we near...

A global increase in anti-LGBTQ+ intolerance is having a significant impact on digital rights. As we wrote last year, censorship of LGBTQ+ websites and online content is on the rise. For many LGBTQ+ individuals the world over, the internet can be a safer space for exploring identity, finding...

Today marks World Press Freedom Day, an annual celebration instituted by the United Nations in 1993 to raise awareness of press freedom and remind governments of their duties under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This year, the day is dedicated to the importance of journalism...

Ola Bini, the software developer acquitted last year of cybercrime charges in a unanimous verdict in Ecuador, was back in court last week in Quito as prosecutors, using the same evidence that helped clear him, asked an appeals court to overturn the decision with bogus allegations of unauthorized access...

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Update: We now have the audio conferencing and video conferencing facilities within our Zoho Meeting platform and hence the below integration with Skype is no longer required (available). Visit our integrations page to know more about the various integrations available in Zoho Meeting.

Buddy List Auto Fill

Zoho Meeting also remembers the names/email addresses of the participants you have recently invited. When you type in the first few letters, there is an auto-fill/suggest box which helps fill the names easily.

Hi Scott,We have enabled VOIP in Zoho Meeting (currently it is a BETA feature)To turn on VOIP, please do the following :

1.) Please login to and click on Settings tab.

2.) Turn "Enable VOIP (Beta)"to Yes, and

3.) In "Attendee Viewing Option" , choose "Open default viewer "Note : VOIP is currently enabled along with Zoho Audio, i.e. When you create a Meeting, you will get an option to choose your Audio conferencing. When you choose "Zoho Audio", we reserve a number and a PIN for you and send the Audio details along with the Meeting Invites. Participants can either dial-in using that number or use VOIP !Best Regards

SRK

Hi,

I tried checkboxing the Skype box when creating the meeting, but it is not accepting. Is skype conferencing possible to do via zoho. Additionally, does zoho support calling-out and conferencing the participant via other channels like gtalk, oovoo, normal VOIP (zoho can provide a click to activate audio), mobile, landline etc?

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