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Skype: from online flirting to 100 person group chat
Skype enhances services for small businesses
Vapps, a provider of a VoIP based audioconferencing service and platform, is offering Skype users free conference calling for up to 500 participants in a move seen as helping Skype increase usage by businesses, but Gartner has warned businesses about security weaknesses in the Skype client software.

The Vapps service is available through its Highspeedconferencing.com website and follows on the heels of SkypeOut calls becoming free to Skype users within the US and Canada.

Michael Jackson, director, paid products at Skype said that with the Vapps' technology, conference calling could also be used to 'broadcast' a call to as many as 500 contacts on one call from any country.
Skype's announcement quoted Will Stofega, research manager VoIP services at IDC, saying: "Offering unlimited usage of these services will further differentiate Skype's offering for the small to medium sized businesses looking to cut down on costs and continue to have a reliable communications tool for their clients and partners."

Early in May Skype introduced conferencing to up to 100 participants under control of a moderator in the latest version of its client software. However the Vapps service offers more 'professional' conferencing features.

Ben Lilienthal, CEO and co-founder of Vapps. Said: "Our conference calling platform allows Skype participants to have more great features than are available through traditional conference calling services, and at no cost.

According to the highspeedconferencing.com website these are: being able to play a list of menu features, muting and unmuting of your own line and hearing the number of callers who are on the conference.

However while Skype and Vapps are touting the business benefits of the service, Gartner is warning businesses about the difficulty of guarding against security weaknesses in the Skype client software.

In a research note the company highlighted the latest in series of vulnerabilities discovered in the Skype Windows client and noted that, unlike Microsoft, Skype made no attempt to warn users or prevent them using the flawed client.

" Because the Skype client is a free download, it is widely used and most businesses have no idea how many Skype clients are installed on their systems or how much Skype traffic passes over their networks," Gartner said.

"When users with a vulnerable client sign on to Skype, they receive a prompt suggesting they upgrade to the most recent version, but are not warned about the vulnerability or the associated risks. They are still allowed to access the service with a vulnerable client

"In contrast, Microsoft immediately restricted access to its MSN Messenger instant messaging (IM) service in 2005 when it discovered a vulnerability in its IM client. Only users with an updated and non-vulnerable client were allowed to access the service, which meant Microsoft essentially performed the vulnerability management process on behalf of businesses. Skype provides no such protection."

On 19 May 2006, Skype issued a "medium risk" security bulletin for a vulnerability in the Skype for Windows user client. Skype recommended that users upgrade to the most recent version, which fixes the problem. Gartner noted: "This vulnerability follows three in 2005 (two high-risk, one low-risk) and highlights the risk of not establishing and implementing an enterprise policy for Skype."