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How easy is it to hack a MSN video chat?

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Illuminator
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Nov 23, 2001
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I'm completely ignorant when it comes to this stuff.
I recently downloaded Messenger 7.0 to be able to videochat with my wife and family.
But since I'm using a computer in the university network, how easy is it for one of the computer majors to hack my conversations?

Not that anything that would attract the interest of youngsters is happening in them :balcony
 
The chance of this happening is basically zero, mainly because no one besides an obsessive stalker ex would bother trying to access other people's MSN conversations.

If someone really wanted to, the easiest way to 'hack' your video conversations would probably be to install something on your machine that records them then shares them over the network. It would still be a lot of trouble to go to. Other people's private conversations tend to be kind of, well, boring. Unless you have reason to believe that someone is actually going to try it, I wouldn't worry too much.
 
I don't know if it makes any difference to the hackability, but you should consider turning off the chat logs, as those are a permanant record of your typed chat sessions.
 
Pythra said:
The chance of this happening is basically zero, mainly because no one besides an obsessive stalker ex would bother trying to access other people's MSN conversations.

If someone really wanted to, the easiest way to 'hack' your video conversations would probably be to install something on your machine that records them then shares them over the network. It would still be a lot of trouble to go to. Other people's private conversations tend to be kind of, well, boring. Unless you have reason to believe that someone is actually going to try it, I wouldn't worry too much.
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Hi. I agree with everything you say. However, I have a customer (and friend) who is being accused of "listening in" on a Messenger Video conference. The accused does not have much in the way of computer skills and asked if I could find documentation which outlines the difficulties and the skills needed to even attempt to hack Messenger. So that she can sort-of prove her innocence. I'm not looking for a "how to hack" more of a "how secure it is" type document. I found nothing on the Microsoft site. Seen anything?
 
I have never attempted anything like this and I'm not entirely sure of the security and communications protocols used by MSN. If your friend is on the same LAN as the video conference took place, it MAY be possible. The standard way to intercept a peer-to-peer data transfer would be to use a packet-sniffer. You would need the IP of either the server of the client, isolate the data transfer you're interested in, then reassemble the captured packets.

This is assuming practically zero security. I'm quite confident something this simple would not work for MSN, but who knows. I don't think you should be proving your friend's innocence though, I think she should be demanding evidence from her accusers that she did something like this.

Are you sure they're assuming that she somehow 'hacked' MSN? They may well suspect she was standing outside the office with an ear to the door. Which, all things being considered, is a much easier and probably more effective approach to eavesdropping!
 
Pythra said:
Are you sure they're assuming that she somehow 'hacked' MSN? They may well suspect she was standing outside the office with an ear to the door. Which, all things being considered, is a much easier and probably more effective approach to eavesdropping!
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I kept things simple really. There is a hate campaign (love triangle thingy) and the accusation is ridiculous - I know this and the accuser knows but the piggy-in-the-middle does not - see what I mean.

Don't worry. I just saw the thread and wondered, if on the off chance you had seen something an article which would ideally be titled "MSN Messenger is really impossible to hack, honest."

So unless something instantly comes to mind please do not concern yourself. And I do appreciate your reply and input. I think I'll show her a print-out of this thread and it'll do it....maybe?

Thanks again and regards Karl Quigley
 
KQ, don't trust the security of any machine that isn't yours. If you're connected to a university or business network, it's almost certain that the techs are watching your every move, looking for inappropriate behaviour. Trust me on this; my best mate is the I.T. guy at the local college and one of his favourite passtimes is hauling some poor kid into his office to be given a lecture about how watching porn is against the college's rules and regulations.
 
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