Instant messaging: solving the security problem.(SELECTED TOPIC)

Jerry Askew, a legal technology expert and head of Askew Network Solutions, recalls a law firm relocation that placed a partner down the hall away from his secretary. When a phone call came in, the secretary would have to yell down the hall to the attorney, who could only hear her when his door was open. Jerry's solution was to incorporate an internal instant messaging framework that allowed the secretary to send a pop-up box to the attorney's desktop. Then the lawyer could click a button to tell the secretary that he would 1) take the call, 2) call them back later or 3) declare himself "indisposed".

Instant communication is a luxury that we demand and expect in a world of mobile phones and BlackBerrys. Hardly anyone dares to post a letter by snail-mail these days. Even with e-mail you have to wait for a response. That's the main reason we have a technology called instant messaging, often hiply referred to as "IM"

To use IM, computer users download a client to their PC that communicates with a server where many other people virtually congregate and chat. Because the majority of a typical businessperson's day is spent staring at a computer monitor, workers find IM to be an easy and efficient way to communicate with others, both at the office and elsewhere.

Making IM A Bad Thing

The best and worst part of the most popular IM platforms--AOL's AIM, MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger--is that they're wide open for anyone to use. All you need to do is sign up for a username and password. While this may be acceptable from an entertainment perspective, it certainly doesn't fly for the corporate world. E-mail viruses are getting less and less effective these days, thanks to better user education and improved security software. IM applications have proved to be the perfect launch pads for new threats, the most dangerous and widespread being "worms"

Click On Me, I'm Your Friend

How are IM worms and viruses successful? The danger is similar to that in e-mail, where a user opens an attached file and inadvertently installs a virus. IM applications have the ability to shuttle files from one user to another, so, naturally, malicious files are commonly sent to unsuspecting users. What might look like a cute screensaver or a darling baby picture could turn out to be a debilitating virus. This isn't to say that the users are all to blame, but all the technical safety measures in the world can't account for the temporary recklessness of a person who opens a file they don't know is ...