Skype denounces 'nefarious' reverse engineering

Skype has accused a Russian researcher who claims to have reverse engineered the company's popular VoIP client of infringing on its intellectual property and promoting malicious "subversion" of the system.

Skype has accused a Russian researcher who claims to have reverse engineered the company's popular VoIP client of infringing on its intellectual property. Photo credit: Pixelbully

On Thursday, freelance researcher Efim Bushmanov set up a blog on which he posted binaries purporting to be the reverse-engineered Skype protocol. Skype's protocol is proprietary, and no doubt key to the company's recently announced purchase by Microsoft, but Bushmanov indicated he wanted to create an open-source version.

Skype hit back on Friday, saying in a statement that "this unauthorised use of our application for malicious activities like spamming/phishing infringes on Skype's intellectual property".

"We are taking all necessary steps to prevent/defeat nefarious attempts to subvert Skype's experience," the company said. "Skype takes its users' safety and security seriously and we work tirelessly to ensure each individual has the best possible experience."