Fugitive's Skype call leads to his arrest
By Cyrus Farivar 
posted Aug 25th 2006 2:02PM
posted Aug 25th 2006 2:02PM
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 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]
I kept tellin' him: "Zfone and Gizmo Project, Zfone and Gizmo Project!"
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.
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 )
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.
you are confusing security with traceability. Two very different things.
"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
Bloomberg.com is wrong...
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.)
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.