IM increasingly becomes an entry point..

IM provides hacker entry point

BY ILVA PIETERSE, ITWEB JOURNALIST

[Johannesburg, 19 July 2006] - Instant messaging (IM) is gaining huge popularity around the world, including SA, but many companies and individuals fail to realise the security implications involved.“The IM adoption in SA is very high,” explains Roy Blume, BMI-TechKnowledge analyst. “But it is a double-edged sword.”Although IM eases the problem of spam, Blume warns, it also creates a security risk by creating access through a network firewall.“Today we see more and more organisations and employees using IM,” explains Richard Archdeacon, director of innovation and enterprise for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Symantec. “There has been an increase in worm attacks through this medium.”There have been reports of malware that mimic an IM conversation to distract the user, while the malware is being downloaded onto their machine, Archdeacon explains.“We have to remember that any form of communication is a potential entry point for a hacker,” says Archdeacon, “and there is a rich tapestry of communication around today.”Blume also believes the IM threat will come of age if all the different IM providers, such as Yahoo, MSN, and Gmail Chat, consolidate into one single platform.