On 7/6/07, FREGONI Roberto <Roberto.FREGONI@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I'd like to permit only Skype voice traffic and deny file transfer, chatting and device sharing through my squid proxy. Do you know if it is possible to do it.
Squid isn't capable of doing what you ask -- I doubt any network firewall or proxy is capable of reliably doing what you ask. Skype is a closed-source application using a proprietary peer-to-peer protocol, and goes to extremes to prevent telcos from implementing limitations on Skype traffic at the network level. The features Skype has implemented to keep ISPs from blocking/degrading phone calls also makes it difficult for other network owners to *reliably* implement even simple permit or deny of Skype sessions, as (aside from some phone-home behavior at session startup) their protocol pretty much looks like any other encrypted P2P network protocol, tunneling over TCP/443 and any other port it can find. Among other implications, this means any firewall hole you open "for Skype" is going to be available for other P2P to exploit. My recommendation is to set a policy forbidding Skype and other peer-to-peer, and take whatever technical and social measures you can to enforce the policy.
Now I can only deny or permit Skype traffic at all, I'd like to use Skype for voip traffic without risks of free file exchanging.
If you deploy MS-Windows as a domain (AD, etc) with good control over the local workstations, you can use the "Skype for Business" group policy feature to control file transfer via registry hacks on the (Windows) workstations where the client is installed: http://www.skype.com/security/Skype-v1.5.adm http://share.skype.com/sites/security/2007/01/deploying_skype_in_a_windows_d.html#more Kevin