Why You Really Need to Stop Using BitTorrent
Posted by craigB | Posted in Computer Security, General, News You Can Use, Totally Useful Tips | Posted on 01-11-2011
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Everyone has bad habits. Some of these habits are benign, but others can have very serious consequences.
For example, we are advised time and time again not to use peer-to-peer technologies like BitTorrent, and yet we continue to do so. Even when we’re not using this file-sharing protocol illegally (i.e., downloading the latest movies), there’s still cause for alarm. If you’re not worried about the consequences of peer-to-peer file-sharing, you should be. And here’s why.
Do you use Skype? This may seem like it has nothing to do with P2P, but stick with me.
Skype is a powerful tool that businesses can and should use to communicate both internally and externally. But it does require that users divulge a modicum of information. When a user signs up for Skype, they must provide an e-mail address and create a Skype ID. They can also provide personal information, such as birth name, location, gender, age, and website. This information is recorded in the Skype directory. Naturally, you shouldn’t be giving any of this sort of information out, but you still have to create that Skype ID. It turns out that this simple piece of information can be observed by anyone, and that poses a terrifying possibility: who is watching you?
A research team with members from Germany, France, and the United States created a scheme that was able to find a targeted person’s Skype ID and inconspicuously call that person to find their IP address. This scheme was used periodically to observe the mobility of that Skype user, tracking where they operated from.
Furthermore, they found that Skype does not attempt to hinder this sort of scheme with any sort of countermeasures. In fact, even though the researchers informed Skype of major privacy vulnerabilities back in May (the same month that the company was acquired by Microsoft), these vulnerabilities have not been addressed.
The researchers then used their scheme to link Skype and BitTorrent to show how it is possible to determine the file-sharing usage of identified users. Here’s a sample of what they found:
|
User |
# Files Shared |
First Name |
Last Name |
City |
Country |
|
1 |
23 |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
|
2 |
18 |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
|
3 |
12 |
✔ |
✔ |
X |
✔ |
|
4 |
11 |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
|
5 |
11 |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
|
6 |
11 |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
|
7 |
9 |
X |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
|
8 |
8 |
X |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
|
9 |
7 |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
|
10 |
6 |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
This is only with a handful of users, but the researchers drew from a set of 100,000. Plus, the researchers limited their scheme to link only Skype and BitTorrent. There are any number of other communication services and P2P networks that bad guys can target to get to your personal information.
This isn’t an indictment of Skype. You should just know that even with modest financial resources, it can be pretty easy to gain access to your personal information. Simply put, the researchers hypothesize that any Internet user can find out who you are, where you are, and what you are downloading and uploading on peer-to-peer networks, all simply by finding your Skype ID. Now that’s scary!
You can read the whole study at http://cis.poly.edu/~ross/papers/skypeIMC2011.pdf.
BitTorrent, and other P2P networks like Vuze and The Pirate Bay, suck up bandwidth, waste employee time, provide viruses with an easy entry point into your network, and often straddle the line of legality. Granted, P2P makes it easy to share information with others, but the risks involved clearly outweigh the rewards. Luckily, there is an alternative: Microsoft SharePoint. Stay tuned for more on SharePoint later this year…
So how do you control P2P on your network? You can monitor your network’s bandwidth usage to spot applications like these, and even block them at the firewall. You should also create and circulate a company Internet policy, if you haven’t already. Responza has a pretty simple policy when it comes to BitTorrent: don’t!
For a sample policy or to learn more about how you can keep your personal information secure, call (206) 762-5100 or send an e-mail to solutions@responza.com.













