Fugitive's Skype call leads to his arrest

Here's a tip for all you privacy freaks out there: Skype isn't nearly as secure as you might think. Just ask Kobi Alexander, wanted by the Feds on charges of financial fraud, who was nabbed found by a private investigator earlier this week. Moshe Buller, the private investigator who's been trying to locate Alexander, tracked him down when Alexander's Skype call was traced to a computer in Sri Lanka. Alexander, the former CEO of the scandal-ridden Comverse, had been on the lam from U.S. authorities for a few weeks, and at one point his mugshot graced the website of the FBI. But fear not security-mongers, our friends at Ars link to a year-old study out from George Mason University that says that VoIP can be secured. Or not.

Update: Ryan points out in the comments that Bloomberg News is reporting that Alexander may have left Sri Lanka before actually being arrested.

Update 2: We traded emails with the Bloomberg News reporter, Jonathan Ferziger, who's been following the case, and who told us that Alexander was not arrested, according to Sri Lankan police spokesman Rienzi Perera. Ferziger added that Moshe Buller, the private investigator who's been on the case, "presumably knows where he went, although he hasn't said so publicly."

[Via Ars Technica]

[LukeA @ Aug 25th 2006 2:09PM]

I kept tellin' him: "Zfone and Gizmo Project, Zfone and Gizmo Project!"

[Hammo @ Aug 25th 2006 2:33PM]

There's no mention here about how it was done. Who knows? Maybe they just called up the friendly folk at skype and asked for some help?

There is no indication at all in this that any trickery was used.

[ryan @ Aug 25th 2006 2:58PM]

Note that they didn't actually "nab" (arrest) him...

"Buller said Alexander has left Sri Lanka since he saw him there yesterday and doesn't know where he is now."

( see here: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=conewsstory&refer=conews&tkr=CMVT:US&sid=akXToxYc4k5A )

[irieken @ Aug 25th 2006 3:16PM]

Gizmo is not immune to the method that they used to catch him either. Skype's security was not compromised in this case. Skype's encryption protects your conversation, not your location. This does not protect tracking of where the call originated and where it went to.

Also, once "skypeout" is used to connect to the POTS, traditional wiretapping methods will allow the conversation to be overheard.

[Dale @ Aug 25th 2006 3:26PM]

you are confusing security with traceability. Two very different things.

[Larry @ Aug 25th 2006 3:30PM]

"Note that they didn't actually "nab" (arrest) him...

"Buller said Alexander has left Sri Lanka since he saw him there yesterday and doesn't know where he is now." by ryan

*** Nop, he was arrested *** engadget story via Ars Technica, via israeli http://www.haaretz.com, "He was caught in a villa in the town of Negombo."


Here is another link: "Comverse fugitive tracked down after Skype call" ,, http://blog.americasnewstoday.com/2006/08/25/comverse-fugitive-tracked-down-after-skype-call.aspx

[Nakamura @ Aug 25th 2006 4:54PM]

Gotta be pretty stupid if he's using an account that he's associated with. Nothing is totally secure, and the gov't has around 400 million hackers working for them. (Hackers the size of donuts.)

[Larry @ Aug 25th 2006 9:37PM]

Bloomberg.com is wrong...

[Imshin @ Aug 28th 2006 11:49PM]

Many in Israel, some apparently acquainted personally with the private investigator in question, are very doubtful of this story.

Reputable Israeli business newspapers such as The Marker, Haaretz’s business paper, and Globes have been delving into the indiscrepancies of the PI’s claims for a few days now, so far, in Hebrew only. The PI has given quite a few alternative versions of the story of how he claims to have tracked Alexander down, a few of them don't even involve any tracked Skype conversations.

Israeli newspaper Maariv, that broke the story, has ‘yellow’ tendencies.