Latest Skype Update Now Hides IP By Default

[Smitten]

In an effort to prevent DoS and other attacks against gamers and more indirectly, users involved in the RMT business, Microsoft today announced that with the latest version of Skype, a users IP address will not be able to be resolved from their username.

Skype is fully committed to delivering as safe and secure of an experience as possible to our customers. We have recently introduced the ability to hide a Skype user’s IP address and we’ve set this as a default status in the latest versions of Skype.

This means that starting with this update to Skype and moving forward, your IP address will be kept hidden from Skype users as the default setting. This measure will help prevent individuals from obtaining a Skype ID and resolving to an IP address.

Skype has been, and still remains one of the most popular means of communication for multiplayer games over the last few years. The fact that it has no startup or ongoing costs and that usernames can be shared with friends and teammates easily to create group chats and calls has made it a very attractive option, but it has always had one significant drawback: users IP addresses have been easily obtainable from usernames.

As Skype calls are handled on a Peer to Peer basis, the IP addresses of users were shown to anyone wishing to contact you. While this reduced potential latency and call connection times, it left users vulnerable to DoS, DDoS and similar attacks by unscrupulous third parties. Though it has been a not-so-obvious option in the Advanced Connections menu to hide your IP address for awhile now, not too many users knew about its existence.

With the widespread knowledge and growing popularity of “Skype Resolvers” - websites or tools where individuals could input a Skype Username and seconds later have the IP address of that user - players and businesses were quick to abuse this information. It was quickly becoming commonplace to have teammates or yourself disconnected from the game as opponents who knew your Skype name employed “booter” services to flood your IP with so much traffic you couldn’t play.

Not too long after, it wasn't unusual for those participating in RMT businesses to face DoS/DDoS attacks from their competitors in a bid to reduce their market share, or harass them so much that they would leave altogether. Gold sellers would attack rival gold sellers, PvP piloters would attack those piloting on other teams that they faced and few, if any, feared the potential legal consequences.

Hopefully with the latest update, this issue will become a relic of the past for Skype users. Despite the fact that newer services such as Discord have been gaining popularity lately, those loyal to Skype should now be safer from these attacks going forward.

For users who haven't or cannot update, the option to hide your IP address manually can be found under the Tools -> Options menu.



If your Skype client does not have this option, you may be running a version older than the release that supports hiding your IP address. If you wish to stick to the older Skype versions, you can input proxy details in the same section, so any resolvers will show the IP address of the proxy and keep your IP hidden from the world.

Remember: Just because Skype will now hide your IP address from potential snoopers with your username, it doesn't make you immune to having your IP address discovered! Avoid clicking links in Skype, email or through PMs from users you don't trust to websites you don't know about as they can be used to collect your IP address unknowingly.

[Kenneth]

Even if this doesn't make it 100% secure at least it is a step in the right direction.

[Razor33]

Really nice news More safety for Skype gamers and business !

[mmobuyerx]

still i have no idea on why they blocked my skype again and again