Why Do BHW Members Use Skype

Why is it that so many BHW Members use Skype in their day to day communications? It is not considered a very secure platform, and in my mind, which may be quite off here, of all people, BHW Members would be more security conscious than say, my grandmother (who has a Skype account).

Beyond Open Whisper Systems' Signal app, which requires users share actual telephone numbers, there are much more secure options such as KeyBase. I have no ownership or am not part of the development teams for either of these products. I do, however, use them daily.

I have even resorted to using ProtonMail to contact BHW Members, as it allows for end-to-end encrypted communications via e-mail, with a non-ProtonMail recipient, well, with everyone actually.

This post may be more of a rhetorical rant than anything else. Maybe some of you will read this, do your own research, and start using more secure communications channels.

I came here to say that people want to use skype as they are trying to do a deal they would not want others (including MODs) to see, possibly due to being against the rules or even a straight up scam.

But then I realised this is probably just a very thinly veiled spam thread.

jimbobo2779 said:

I came here to say that people want to use skype as they are trying to do a deal they would not want others (including MODs) to see, possibly due to being against the rules or even a straight up scam.

But then I realised this is probably just a very thinly veiled spam thread.

Click to expand...

Wait, what?

I am not spamming here. I am seriously curious why people who are most likely more secure than average denizens would use a service such as Skype. I may have a Skype account or two, but for testing purposes only. I do not use Skype because I do not trust the security of Skype. It truly baffles me that anyone who may want to hide themselves would use Skype, unless, they are several layers deep already, and are okay with the risks from that point forward.

It is an annoyance to me, when I am browsing various threads within BHW, that the default communications medium is Skype.

We use Skype because everybody uses Skype. Its not like we only use Skype, there are users who say to contact them on Google Hangouts or straight up email or PM. It's all personal preference of how you run your business.

Mark Eternally said:

It is an annoyance to me, when I am browsing various threads within BHW, that the default communications medium is Skype.

Click to expand...

That annoys you?

I'd hate to be the barista that makes a mistake with your morning coffee at Starbucks

you trying to promote your article nonchalantly? I use skype because my carrier pigeon has an injured wing this week.

jimbobo2779 said:

I came here to say that people want to use skype as they are trying to do a deal they would not want others (including MODs) to see, possibly due to being against the rules or even a straight up scam.

But then I realised this is probably just a very thinly veiled spam thread.

Click to expand...

I was going to say the same, but I'm a little sick of being called out as a hater, because I see through the blatant horse shit.

At the moment I'm enjoying all the crypto bullshit. Highly amusing how people are took in by the bollocks on here these days.

Breakfast1234 said:

I'd hate to be the barista that makes a mistake with your morning coffee at Starbucks

Click to expand...

Just don't let it happen again.

Seriously though, you are reading too far into my statement. It is not an annoyance like how politics can rile people up, but more along the lines of a general curiosity of human nature. There is no intention to make this into an argumentative thread, the opposite actually. I get that people use Skype, it seems to work, so it is used here. When I talk with security professionals, they tend to provide secure communication options. When I want to contact someone who is intentionally hiding their activity, they usually do not just tell me to hit them up via their GMail account, unless they have layers ahead of it. I may have misread who is using BHW, in that, I figured the average BHW Member would be more concerned with their privacy than the average FB user.

BTW, I do not do Starbucks. I usually do water or tea, at home, and water when I am out.

Vladamir said:

you trying to promote your article nonchalantly? I use skype because my carrier pigeon has an injured wing this week.

Click to expand...

No. The links I used are not mine. I am truly curious why BHW Members opt for a less secure communications channel when there are other, rather simple to use, more secure options available.

I removed the hyperlinked text from your post as for some reason, it was just displaying the URLs (hence why some of the members thought it looked like spam).

Anyway, @jimbobo2779 answered the question as to why the scammers who lurk here use it. Those scammers don't care about security and their accounts are often disposable.

The legitimate members use Skype either because most of the other members here have an account or for business purposes (often for support). But as @drew32091 already stated, not everyone here only uses Skype.

@Zwielicht, thank you for trimming the URL's if they made the post seem spammy. I posted the https://www.comparitech.com/blog/in...pe-safe-and-secure-what-are-the-alternatives/ link because it had a decent and easy to read description of why Skype should be questioned. The other links were to Skype's official site, Open Whisper Systems's Signal official site, KeyBase's official site, and ProtonMail's official site. Google is your friend.

See, even the scammers should probably consider using something else. This is part of my point. Skype is not a secure platform. Anyone with something to hide should probably do some due diligence and use more secure channels of communication. But then, I am guessing most of the scammers are lazy.

I realize not everyone here uses Skype. It does seem to be the default communications choice here, other than PM, but even then, PM's migrate to ... Skype.

Okay, I get that the answers here are great answers. I realize there is not going to be a post that makes is so revealing that a beam of light shines down from the heavens and transforms my mind. Rhetorical rant, perhaps, but thank you all for your responses. I suppose the way forward for me is to promote other forms of communication beyond Skype. I have listed some options within this thread.

You could say the same about most email services that aren't secure.

Mark Eternally said:

I posted the https://www.comparitech.com/blog/in...pe-safe-and-secure-what-are-the-alternatives/ link because it had a decent and easy to read description of why Skype should be questioned. The other links were to Skype's official site, Open Whisper Systems's Signal official site, KeyBase's official site, and ProtonMail's official site. Google is your friend.

Click to expand...

Don't worry, I didn't think any of them were your websites, otherwise I would've taken down the thread and issued you an infraction.

But yeah, I get what you're saying. I personally do not like Skype and only use my account for "research purposes".

Mark Eternally said:

See, even the scammers should probably consider using something else. This is part of my point. Skype is not a secure platform. Anyone with something to hide should probably do some due diligence and use more secure channels of communication. But then, I am guessing most of the scammers are lazy.

Click to expand...

I hope they keep using Skype. Without going into too much detail, scammers using Skype makes it easier to identify them in more ways than I've listed in my BHW safety thread.

skype much better for a faster communication

What would be the issue if you are just chatting with another?

Who cares if it is just one person talking to another about general stuff?

discord is where it's at

I remember when skype used to expose your IP when you sign in (and last IP when logged out)... they've patched the original exploit, but private methods still exist.

You could also quite easily send over infected files/links... fun days.

MikeyMikey13 said:

I remember when skype used to expose your IP when you sign in (and last IP when logged out)... they've patched the original exploit, but private methods still exist.

You could also quite easily send over infected files/links... fun days.

Click to expand...

Skype resolver and a $5 booter. Miss those days too <3

hay706 said:

Skype resolver and a $5 booter. Miss those days too <3

Click to expand...

It was how to ruin someone's day 101. Then for 20$ you could get the booters with 7200-14400 boot times lmao.

Not that I did that of course, because that is unethical and against the law.

Skype seems to use alot of background resources on android.

Like paypal, we all hate it but we are stuck with them because everyone is using it