Skype Updates Software and Solves Security Issue

Skype updated its online telephony solution in order to solve a few security problems which were considered critical. According to Skype, one of the security issues could have allowed attackers to take control of another user's computer. That flaw, which resembles a lot one of the bugs that Skype fixed last year, affects only the Windows version of the software.

An attacker could exploit the flaw by crafting a special link and luring trusty users to click on it. The same flaw could be exploited when importing user information from a malformed electronic business card, or VCARD.

The second security issue Skype got rid of affected all Skype versions and could be exploited in a denial-of-service attack.

Skype released yesterday the updated versions of its software for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux that do not contain the vulnerabilities mentioned earlier. A fixed version of the application for Pocket PCs is now being developed.

Skype was taken over by eBay last month, but the software's success can't be debated for it has been downloaded over 186 million times since its launch in August 2003.