Risks of Instant Messaging on Corporate Network Security

Instant messaging (IM) over the Internet is a fast-growing application that allows people to send short text messages to each other in real time. The main IM systems are provided by Web portal sites such as Yahoo, MSN and AOL. ICQ . . . Instant messaging (IM) over the Internet is a fast-growing application that allows people to send short text messages to each other in real time. The main IM systems are provided by Web portal sites such as Yahoo, MSN and AOL. ICQ is an older IM system that was originally independent but is now part of AOL. There are also third-party clients that allow users to log into several IM systems simultaneously.

For users, IM has obvious attractions. It lets employees keep in touch with colleagues and friends and allows them to swap multimedia files such as audio or video clips. It can sometimes be faster than the standard office email system, and users can tell whether those they want to talk to are online.

The link for this article located at ZDNet UK is no longer available.