iPad users finally got their hands on a native Skype app today.
More than a month after it was expected to make its official debut, the iPad-optimized Skype client began appearing in Apple App Stores today. The new app takes advantage of the tablet's larger screen real estate, making for crisp and clear video chat over Wi-Fi, and often less crisp chat over 3G.
A security researcher has discovered a potentially major security flaw in Facebook, apparently caused by the communication package/service's recently-launched close integration with Facebook.
According to David Vieira-Kurz of the SecAlert newswire, the Facebook integration has introduced a cross-site scripting (XSS) flaw into the Skype software, allowing the remote hijacking of a Skype session and potentially compromising a user's system.
A couple of days ago, a security vulnerability for Skype was discovered by Levent Kayan, a Berlin-based security researcher. What he had discovered was this exploit which allowed malicious hackers to enter a string of JavaScript code into the “mobile phone” field for that user, and the minute that user logs on, the hacker would be able to trigger the program, allowing the hacker access to the user’s Skype account and possibly even the computer they are using Skype on.
An Armenian hacker is claiming that Skype has failed to learn from prior security lessons, falling victim to a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability similar to one it patched in May, which would allow users to redirect victims to unwanted websites or run arbitrary code.
The May vulnerability allowed users to fool the Mac client of Skype into running arbitrary code as the client didn't check, or sanitise, instant messages to ensure they were free of malicious code.
Video chatting has made its way to Skype's Android app, the VoIP provider announced today.
Video is extremely important in the Skype ecosystem. At any given time, there are 30 million concurrent users on Skype, according to Skype vice president and general manager of product and marketing, Neil Stevens. At its peak, Skype sees 500,000 simultaneous video calls across its service.
When word broke last week that Skype was firing senior executives, many assumed it was part of an effort to save payout costs ahead of its merger with Microsoft.
The Internet phone giant, which was recently purchased by Microsoft for $8.5 billion, characterized the firings as "management changes" that were part of "a recent internal shift."
