Taliban VoIP calls

Days after the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S., British intelligence reported that the Taliban is using Skype to coordinate its military operations because the VoIP calls are heavily encrypted and difficult to decode. Previously, the British military and the U.S. military had intercepted Taliban communications with relative ease, because they used satellite or normal mobile phones easily traceable by British observation planes and U.S. intelligence resources.

The Skype algorithm is reportedly proving to be quite difficult to crack. British military officials have tried to introduce legislation into their Parliament requiring ISPs to track data, but the proposal raised the usual questions about privacy and government snooping on individual civilians.

Coordinated attacks based on VoIP calls are part of the Taliban's more aggressive strategy and reorganization. British officials are reportedly were working overtime with American counterparts to crack Skype encryption on suspected terrorist communications. But, as reported July 25, 2008, Austrian officials implied that Skype calls were quite easy to intercept. If that's the case, British officials need to have a chat with Vienna sooner rather than later.

For more:
- see the computerweekly.com article [1] 

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