this-is-new2Instant Messaging has come a long way since its early days of just being buddy-to-buddy chatting service. Today it is full-fledged mode of communication and many popular Instant Messaging Clients like America Online’s Instant Messenger, Microsoft’s MSN Messenger, ICQ, and Internet Relay Chat (IRC) have changed the way we communicate with our clients, friends and colleagues.

By the very nature of their mode of operation, Instant Messaging platforms provide an ideal platform for spreading computer malware. For instance, they have neatly categorized directories and contact details, they perform on robust communication infrastructure and most important of all, they can sometimes be controlled by external scripts.

And when the malware is coming through someone who is trusted and has a place in your IM buddy list, then you often ignore the Internet Security Risks potentially associated with it and take it safe.

Two common threats associated with Messaging Clients are the following.

Eavesdropping: Using technologies like Packet Sniffer, a third party can easily eavesdrop or overhear the conversation going on between two IM users.

Account Hijacking: Using a compromised IM account, a third person can impersonate as somebody else and engage other users into the conversation. You can find lots of information available on the Internet on how to do that.

How to Protect against Instant Messaging Attacks

The best way to protect against such IM attacks is to use data encryption for all their IM sessions.

There are many tools available on Internet today, which allow you to encrypt the data transacted between two IM users. Some of the methods are as follows.

1. Use Meebo: You can access Meebo through http://meebo.com or alternatively in a secured environment through https://meebo.com. The latter encrypts all your conversation.

2. Use Pidgin: You can also use Pidgin-Encryption Plugin with Pidgin it allows you to encrypt your conversation.

3. Use Bitdefender Internet Security: This is my personal favorite. Bitdefender is one of the leading security software vendor today and their latest products Bitdefender Internet Security 2009 and BitDefender Total Security 2009 provide advanced level encryption techniques to protect you in many ways.In fact, BitDefender provides you three types of data encryption.

  • Instant Messaging Encryption
  • File Vault securely stores personal information or sensitive files, backups files and folders locally.
  • Provides Secure online storage

Check out the other features in BitDefender Internet Security / Total Security 2009.

Until Next time ;-)

Peter

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