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News < Back Sarbanes Oxley : Technology : Instant Messaging Instant Messaging Attacks Increased 253 Percent 2006 on pace for another record year for IM threats against real-time communications
As the overall trend of IM threats continues to increase and businesses continue to adopt IM as an accepted form of communication, the risks posed by these IM threats are increasingly linked to more widespread financial damage and intellectual property loss. As shown during 2005, attackers are progressively using newer technologies, such as root kit software, to disguise and/or hide the malicious attacks. As a result, unsuspecting IM users continue to be at risk from infection of IM worms and viruses, and serve as a point of exposure and propagation. The IMlogic Threat Center released the following statistics highlighting the increasing threat level to business and consumer users of IM applications. The IMlogic Threat Center provides complete data, analysis and discussion of important trends. Key data released includes: Threat Analysis IM threats in January 2006 increased 253 percent over January 2005. IM attacks totaled 174 unique threats in January. While worms still dominated at approximately 80 percent of IM attacks, Trojan viruses increased as a percentage of attacks to approximately 18 percent with client vulnerabilities accounting for two percent of attacks. Last year, IM worms represented approximately 90 percent of all IM attacks while Trojan viruses made up approximately nine percent and client vulnerabilities made up approximately one percent. In January, 56 percent of new threats targeted AOL Instant Messenger, 22 percent targeted MSN and 22 percent targeted Yahoo! Attackers have clearly shifted their focus to AOL with an increase from 36 percent of attacks in 2005 to 57 percent of attacks in January 2006. This monthly report reinforces the findings of the IMlogic 2005 Real-Time Communications Security Report, which detailed a 1,693 percent increase in reported attacks during 2005, and an ongoing trend of attackers using IM as a new vector for threat propagation and infection. The IMlogic Threat Center helps companies stay abreast of these mounting attacks via strategic partnerships with Internet security leaders Symantec, Sybari, McAfee, and Postini and global instant messaging leaders America Online, Microsoft and Yahoo! The IMlogic Threat Center is the comprehensive knowledge base for known IM and P2P vulnerabilities and provides rapid response and guidance for protection against newly detected threats. Addressing the IM Security Dilemma The latest release of threat data reinforces the fact that traditional anti-virus software is not sufficient to protect against the rapid mutation and spread of the latest IM security threats. Traditional anti-virus products rely on known threat signatures to protect organizations, often racing to release a signature after an outbreak has already been identified. The rapid proliferation of IM threats makes them increasingly more difficult for traditional reactive security approaches to keep pace. The inherent real-time nature of IM combined with the latest trend of increasingly destructive IM threats highlights the urgency for which specialized, proactive IM threat protections are needed. ?During the first month of 2006 we are already seeing unprecedented growth in attacks over last year,? said IMlogic Chief Technology Officer Jon Sakoda. ?As organizations increasingly adopt and rely on IM for business critical communications the potential for widespread damage from these attacks continues to increase.? To find the most current and up-to-date threat information visit the IMlogic Threat Center Web site at: http://www.imlogic.com/im_threat_center/index.asp. IMlogic, Inc. is the market leader in enterprise software for instant messaging, the world?s fastest growing communications medium of all time. The largest Fortune 1000 companies across the financial services, energy, healthcare, government, media, telecommunications, technology, and manufacturing industries depend on IMlogic to manage, control and secure corporate IM usage, while satisfying compliance requirements associated with real-time electronic communications. For more information on IMlogic visit www.imlogic.com 
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