June 2006 Archives

Internet telephony company Skype has attracted millions of individual users around the world. Where Skype hasn't had as much luck is in the corporate sector.

One of the main reasons for this, according to an article on CNET News.com, is inadequate username authentication for business customers. In other words, a lot of IT managers would like a better idea of who is connecting to their networks.

Skype, however, doesn't see it as a security issue.

"Identity authentication is more of a usability problem," Michael Jackson, director of operations for Skype, told ZDNet UK. Skype "is not usable for a 10,000-user deployment at the moment. This is something we can build in."

Skype will attempt to address these concerns by boosting companies' ability to add and delete usernames for employees joining and leaving departments.

That's all well and good, but as CNET points out, IT managers are concerned that in-house users are unable to "authenticate the identity of the people they are communicating with."

One authentication technique being considered by Skype is a "ring of trust," in which users are identified by a certification authority. That sounds like a hard sell to an IT manager running a large enterprise containing sensitive data. Maybe this is where a clever start-up steps in with a solution.