Skype outage – Video calling and chat put on hold

Skype servers are currently taking a “short break” claims the official website for the worldwide video calling and chat service.

We at the Gadget Helpline started suffering with our own person-to-person communications with the Skype tantrum booting us out of chat, with log-in attempts prompting error messages to appear – and it appears we’re not alone.

The Skype service began to cut out for users across the globe at around 12:15pm following an outage which the company are now looking into after pulling the active service. The Skype website itself is also glitchy and the aforementioned message goes onto say that it was still possible to download and enjoy the Skype software. However on doing this we found no result – only the same error message repeated.

It’s easy to jump to a conclusion after all the recent high-profile server intrusions with big names such as Sony being toppled by hacking and denial-of-service attacks it’s quite possible that Skype are next in line for these kind of troubles, particularly after being bought out by Microsoft around two weeks ago – an $8.5-billion deal which today looks like a pretty disappointing start to the union.

Numerous users have been jumping over to Twitter and using their 140 characters to give Skype a bashing to which the company’s account has responded with “Some of you may have problems signing in to Skype and making calls. We’re investigating and hope to have more details to share soon”.

Are you also experiencing Skype difficulties this afternoon? Let us know at the official Gadget Helpline Facebook or drop us a comment below.

False Flag Cyber Attack

Recently there was a warning by Steve Watson of false flag attacks in cyberspace that could take down the Internet, at InfoWars:

An increasing clamour to restrict and control the internet on behalf of the government, the Pentagon, the intelligence community and their private corporate arms, could result in a staged cyber attack being used as justification.

Over recent months we have seen a great increase in media coverage of inflated fears over a possible “electronic Pearl Harbor” event, with reports claiming that the U.S. could be “felled within 15 minutes”.

Vastly over-hyped (and in some cases completely asinine) claims that the power grids and other key infrastructure such as rail networks and water sources are wired up to the public internet have permeated such coverage.

Threats against computer networks in the United States are grossly exaggerated. Dire reports issued by the Defense Science Board and the Center for Strategic and International Studies “are usually richer in vivid metaphor — with fears of ‘digital Pearl Harbors’ and ‘cyber-Katrinas’ — than in factual foundation,” writes Evgeny Morozov, a respected researcher and blogger who writes on the political effects of the internet.

Morozov notes that much of the data on the supposed cyber threat “are gathered by ultra-secretive government agencies — which need to justify their own existence — and cyber-security companies — which derive commercial benefits from popular anxiety.”

When the Cybersecurity Act was introduced by Senator John Rockefeller last year, he made similar claims about the threat of cyber attacks, adding “Would it have been better if we’d have never invented the Internet?”…