Skype helps users avoid harassment by hiding IP addresses

Microsoft is finally making IP addresses hidden by default on Skype. Reports surfaced around four years ago noting that a flaw in Skype allowed malicious users to obtain IP addresses through the service. While Microsoft recently introduced the ability to hide your IP address in Skype, this is now being made default with the latest update released today.

It’s an important change that will mostly affect gamers and streamers. Gamers often struggle to prevent distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks because rivals can simply look up their Skype ID and use a number of resolver services to find an IP address and overwhelm it with traffic, knocking someone offline.

Microsoft’s response has been slow, but the company acquired Skype in 2011 when it was primarily peer-to-peer software. Microsoft has been working to move Skype over to its own Messenger backend software, a complicated process to keep the service reliable and stable for its millions of users.