Sidebar: Instant Messaging: Spammers' Next Target

Computerworld - Doug MacLeod, manager of e-messaging and collaboration services at Ingersoll-Rand Co., was surprised when a handful of his instant messaging users started complaining about spam.
"People just started seeing unwanted pop-ups while they were using IM," he says. "I don't know how it gets in."
MacLeod has no current plans to fight IM spam, but he says he'll continue to monitor the situation to see if it becomes a bigger problem for users.
Spam could emerge as a potential problem for companies that use public IM systems such as AOL Instant Messenger, Apple's iChat and Microsoft's MSN Messenger. As with unwanted e-mail, IM spammers are using dictionary-style attacks, where they try millions of possible name combinations to see which ones get through.
The volume of IM spam is miniscule compared to e-mail spam; it amounts to just over 5% of IM message traffic, according to Jon Sakoda, vice president of products at IMlogic Corp. in Waltham, Mass. But it was virtually zero a year ago.
By adding an IM management product from a company like IMlogic, organizations can filter out IM spam.
Here's another way to avoid the problem: Use proprietary, internal IM systems such as Microsoft Corp.'s Live Communication Server, which can be isolated from public IM services. Unfortunately, organizations may still rely on public IM systems to communicate with external contacts.
Brian Trudeau, CIO at Amerex Natural Gas in Sugarland, Texas, hasn't experienced a problem with IM spam yet, but he's prepared. He says that while he was mostly concerned about the "proliferation or worms and viruses over IM" when he purchased IMlogic's IM Manager software, keeping spam at bay has been "a side benefit."
His energy brokers keep an average of 20 IM sessions going on their monitors. "Brokers are sensitive. If they were getting spam, I'd be hearing about it," he says.