Is it safe to allow Skype to act as a server? Morally, I think I should as it helps the network, but it opens ports 80 and 443. Terry Devlin
Ports 80 and 443 would be open if you were running a web server, so I don't think this is really a problem unless the software you are using is buggy or hacked. (Port 80 is the standard for non-secure http web browsing; Netscape chose port 443 for secure web browsing using SSL, the Secure Sockets Layer protocol.) It's difficult to know with Skype because it is closed, proprietary software and all its communications are encrypted. However, if the Skype server software were to be compromised, I expect we'd all hear about it.
