Sidebar: Instant Messaging: Spammers' Next Target

By Mark Hall

March 1, 2004 12:00 PM ET

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.

Recommend Digg Twitter ShareThis

Email Print Send Feedback Reprints

Additional Resources

POLL RESULTS

Leading IT Pros Weigh In on Top IT Issues

Accelerate your knowledge of the IT world you inhabit by viewing the results of a series of polls taken by your IT peers. These polls of 100+ IT professionals each are available for full viewing. They cover key topics such as virtualization, processor performance, green IT, cloud computing and many others. Be a part of the buzz.

WHITE PAPER

For Best Results, Think Beyond the Box

Technology is complex. Keeping it running productively shouldn't be. To that end, you want to minimize the number of solutions needed in-house to simplify operations, maintenance, and support. Kodak offers a best-practices model. One company provides support for both scanner and software, for fast problem resolution without vendor finger-pointing. Download now!

WHITE PAPER

Accelerating the Path to Demand Intelligence with a Demand Signal Repository

Utilizing demand intelligence improves the precision of pricing, product assortments, channel/store placement, and promotion, which are all essential for sustainable revenue management performance. Learn more, download this free whitepaper today.

White Papers & Webcasts

Natural User Interface for Enterprise Applications
Learn how a revolutionary user interface can make a complex enterprise application so intuitive even casual users can jump right in....

Why Now is the Right Time for the Linux Desktop
(Source: Novell) Faced with tighter budgets, enterprises are rethinking their desktop strategies to deliver the same - if not better - services and...

Moving Beyond Monolithic - What's Next for Enterprise Application Architectures?
This white paper reviews the current state of enterprise application architecture and presents a prediction on what might come next....

Novell Opens PR Video
Is the Linux desktop for me? Customers are looking for ways to be more flexible and save money. Using Linux offers a great...

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Deployment Approach Guide
This document is intended for IT professionals and managers who are considering deploying SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. Novell has had a number of...

Usability Is Everything
Learn what sets Workday's HR and Payroll solutions apart from the competition....

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Data Sheet
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop is the market's only enterprise-quality Linux desktop ready. It delivers seamless interoperability with existing enterprise systems and dozens of...

The Value of Real SaaS at Workday
Cost savings, speed to value, and innovation brought to the enterprise by Workday's software-as-a-service solutions for HR and Payroll....

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Data Sheet
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server is a highly reliable, interoperable and manageable server operating system built to power mission-critical workloads in physical and virtual...

SaaS at Flextronics, Inc.
Dave Smoley, CIO of Flextronics, discusses the real value of software-as-a-service and why he chose Workday for his HR solution....

All White Papers | All Webcasts