Microsoft's newest version of Skype hides its users' Internet Protocol (IP) addresses in response to myriad gamers and other users who requested the new feature. The operating system giant has announced the voice and video chat service's default settings will hide the IP addresses.
Skype's new feature will benefit online gamers. Rivals often launch a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack to throw another gamer offline, after using their Skype ID to learn its IP address.
The company shared that it is committed to providing its customers a safe and secure service. Skype noted that IP addresses will be hidden in the current and future versions of the voice chat service.
Gamers were not the only Skype users who experienced DDoS hack attacks. However, they were the most targeted group, according to Tech Times.
The body of Skype's announcement did not mention the online gaming community. However, the heading showed that it was addressed to its gamers.
Since Microsoft's purchase of Skype it has made several upgrades to the chat service. They include free group video calling for mobile devices, and improved search and photo sharing features.
Many online services offer people instant IP address lookups. In the past this caused no problems.
However, last year several pro Dota 2 games were affected due to DDoS attacks, according to ArsTechnica. This often caused gaming teams to play with one fewer player, which put them at a major disadvantage and often resulted in Skype being blamed for leaking IP addresses.
ArsTechnica points out the technical issue was a problem due to Skype's peer-to-peer (P2P) structure. Each Skype user's address was public to allow direct P2P connections.
For a long time Skype has provided an option that allows users to hide their IP addresses from people not on their contact list. Such Web traffic runs through Microsoft servers. This safe process blocks IP address lookup services, and therefore protects users from DDoS attacks.
Microsoft bought Skype in 2011. The platform is one of the world's most popular voice and video chat services in the world. It is available for Windows and Mac desktops/laptops; and iOS, Android and Windows mobile devices.