14 DAY TRIAL // Now, here's an overlooked problem. Sure, I knew that IMs are not the world's most secure applications, and a lot of you must have known it as well, but I had no idea this issue was not taken into consideration by most people. Now, while browsing the web, I found this great transcript. Be my guest and read it, if not in full, at least a part of it, as it contains a few great insights about instant messaging programs and what security threats they pose.
It is just ironic how people ignore these threats. They think they can't get any viruses through IMs and that they're safe. File transfers can get malware on your machine - everyone knows that. Transfers through instant messaging are no difference. I don't know why users don't think about this, I mean, what are they thinking? Do they have the impression that Yahoo! or MSN scan the file for them? No way! You download these files at your own risk, the IM developers don't care if you get a virus, it's not their fault you accepted the file!
And what's even worse about this, is the fact that companies ignore IM threats as well. They're too busy fighting spam and keeping up security in other ways, to think that some employee might download a Trojan or some other virus. IMs are banned at my workplace, and to be honest, I think this should be done everywhere - people are supposed to work, not sit around and chat on the Internet. And if the employees in the IT department don't want to limit access to these, then they can curb the downloads via IM. This needs to be done, in order to prevent something bad from happening. Sure, you can use instant messaging for years and not get a virus, but that's when you know what you're doing, and, come on, we all know that not everyone is keen on cyber-security.