Instant Messaging! What's Happening?

Cross-platform Web-based IM service introduced by BigString Corporation

2008-07-08T12:53:00.001-04:00

A new Web-based, cross-platform, instant messaging (IM) application that enables users to send self-destructing or regular IMs across AOL’s AIM, Yahoo’s Messenger, MSN’s Messenger and Google’s Gtalk has been introduced by BigString Corporation. The free Web application incorporates BigString’s patent-pending IM technology that allows a user to send IMs which self-destruct without being copied, logged or screen-printed by the recipient.

[Redorbit News]

Instant messaging is a slippery fish for some firms

2008-07-07T13:00:00.001-04:00

Excuse me while I ‘pop out’ from this blog posting and message one of my mates: “Is an eel a fish or not?” Be warned – using instant messaging (IM) technology for such crucial business questions is likely to become increasingly prevalent.

For a start, researcher IDC says IM is set to overtake email as the preferred form of business communication by the second half of 2010. If that sounds fanciful, then the research, sponsored by Nortel, also shows European firms are already heavily reliant on IM. More than 50 percent of respondents – twice the number of North American executives – use instant and text messaging for business.

But with regards to non-believing businesses, there is at least one significant barrier to overcome: security concerns. Research from ProcessOne suggests the majority of UK businesses miss out on instant messaging benefits because they fear workers will leak confidential information. As much as 74 per cent of firms say IM could provide collaboration benefits, but 72 per cent ban the technology because of security concerns.

[The Knowledge]

MWEB launches Nimbuzz

2008-07-01T10:48:00.004-04:00

MWEB has launched a single tool to connect friends

MWEB has launched a single tool to connect friends who use different Instant Messaging (IM) programs such as Skype, GTalk, MSN, and Yahoo.

MWEB Nimbuzz is a messaging service for use on your PC as well as your cell phone, allowing users to combine all their messaging friends into one screen.

MWEB Nimbuzz IM is free and available to both MWEB and non-MWEB subscribers.

Says Kelly Ledger, new product development manager at MWEB, “If you have MSN buddies, but also make use of Skype, while your other friends prefer connecting on GTalk, this means logging onto different applications. Now, you only need one application, the internationally popular Nimbuzz, and the best bit is you can take it with you on your cell phone.”

[MyBroadband.co.za News]

Agilemobile.com Ltd. Announces Release

2008-07-01T10:44:00.002-04:00

Agilemobile.com Ltd., a software development company with its primary focus on development of software for mobile phones and handheld computers, today announced the release of Agile Messenger and Agile Forces for the Apple iPhone, iPod Touch and the new iPhone 3G.

Agile Messenger is a multi-protocol instant messaging client for mobile phones and provides a seamless connection to the public instant messaging networks of ICQ, AOL, Yahoo!, MSN, Google Talk and XMPP. Features include Agilemobile.com's multi-media messaging technology which enables users to send instant image, video, and voice messages from mobile to mobile and mobile to PC. In addition to the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch platform, Agile Messenger is already available for Windows Mobile, Symbian Series 60, 80, 90 and Symbian UIQ.

Agile Forces is truly a next generation mobile game and a great example of what the future of mobile multi player gaming is going to look like. Agile Forces is an online multi-player war strategy game. Players are able to challenge other players from all over the world through Agilemobile.com's matchmaking server or play in single player mode. This game features complex war strategy scenarios in both single player and multi-player mode, stunning graphics and over 100 challenging levels to keep the player occupied for months.

Free beta versions of Agile Messenger and Agile Forces for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch can be downloaded, for instructions visit http://www.agilemobile.com/

PRWeb Release

Hollywood big screen in an instant message

2008-06-30T14:24:00.000-04:00

By Matthew Garrahan in Los Angeles
Published: June 30 2008 03:00 in FinancialTimes.com

Hollywood studios have turned to a web start-up to generate new revenues from film and television content in a deal that will allow e-mail, instant messaging and social network users to send short film clips to each other.

PopTok, which is backed by Mickey Schulhof, the former chief executive of Sony America, launches in test mode today with a library of clips capable of being used in messaging tools.

The service is similar to the emoticons used in instant messaging applications, such as Skype.

But rather than sending an emoticon of a smiley face, PopTok users will be able to send short clips from television programmes and films such as Austin Powers , Scarface and Basic Instinct .

The company has struck licensing deals with CBS, Lionsgate, Paramount Pictures, SonyBMG, Universal Pictures, Warner Brothers and Warner Music.

Scott Kauffman, a former Yahoo! executive who has become PopTok's chief executive, said the company would help content owners increase the value of their library titles.

"This an opportunity to breathe new life into content," he said. "[Mobile phone] ring tones did that for the music industry and we are doing it for video." PopTok, he added, would "change the way we communicate online".

PopTok is being backed by Jerusalem Venture Partners, an Israeli media-focused venture capital firm headed by Erel Margalit and GTI Group, which is run by Mr Schulhof.

Illi Edry, who founded PopTok, said the company hoped to tap into changing trends in online communication.

"People are constantly quoting lines they hear in popular movies, TV shows, and music," he said. "But people have migrated online. We will take these quotes and allow people to use them in their online conversations."

The company aims to generate revenues from advertising and also hopes to tap into the $500m-a-year Hollywood studios and TV networks spend on promoting their content. Clips from trailers promoting new films could also be used on PopTok, Mr Edry said.

The service works with most existing instant messaging and e-mail applications. PopTok plans to expand its capability to include mobile phones and social networks.

"The entertainment community really views this is as an opportunity," Mr Kauffman said. "It's an opportunity to monetise back catalogues and promote new releases."

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008

Word on instant chat: Real-time messaging a business asset

2008-06-30T11:17:00.000-04:00

When John Fairey wants to chat with a colleague, but has no time to wait for an email answer or a face-to-face talk, he clicks on the buddy list on his computer screen and sends an instant message (IM). And he almost always gets an instant answer. “It is significantly more efficient,” says the 28-year-old equity researcher for Atlanta-based Pointer Capital. “It saves time.” Researchers say his company is on the cutting edge of a growing trend by providing software that allows workers to “talk” with each other on a “real time” basis, right from their desks.

[Arkansas Democrat-Gazette]

Akonix Software Says IM Networks in Danger

2008-06-30T09:21:00.000-04:00

A local security software maker has issued a warning about malicious code attacks over instant messaging networks.

Akonix Systems Inc. said it tracked 10 new malicious code attacks over IM networks in May, raising the total count of malicious worms to 73 through May 31.

The research was conducted by Akonix and its industry colleagues in IM infrastructure and security schemes: Sophos and Secunia.

Although the number of identified worms is down from last year, the sophistication has increased, said Don Montgomery, vice president of marketing. He said just one rapidly propagating Trojan or worm could take down a business network.

[San Diego Business Journal Associates]

Multi-platform IM makes leap from PC to mobile

2008-06-13T14:15:00.003-04:00

British company Palringo brought multi-platform IM to mobile phones for the first time. Palringo users can exchange not only text and picture messages, but also vocal IMs with users of seven other popular PC-based IM services: AOL’s AIM, Google Talk, Yahoo! Messenger, Gadu Gadu, ICQ, Jabber and Microsoft Windows Live Messenger.

Yahoo Messenger trojan false alarm

2008-06-13T12:39:00.000-04:00

ZoneAlarm Pro mistakenly pegged an audio conferencing ActiveX control within Yahoo Messenger as the Yspy Trojan. As a result, users of the software were prompted to delete yacscom.dll, a critical component of the IM client. By default, the harmless control is placed in quarantine.

[Channel Register]

Yahoo, Google partner on ads, IM

2008-06-13T12:35:00.002-04:00

After stating that it is no longer entertaining overtures from Microsoft, Yahoo revealed that it’s partnering with Google. Google said that it has signed a nonexclusive deal to display its AdSense for Search and AdSense for Content ads on Yahoo’s US and Canadian Web properties. The deal also includes a commitment to make the two companies’ instant messaging (IM) networks interoperable.

[Information Week]

Building a business case for Unified Communications (UC)

2008-06-12T14:11:00.000-04:00

The prospect of managing telephones, email, fax and videoconferencing on one platform is appealing. In fact, according to international research firm Gartner, by 2011 almost 95 percent of enterprises will have started or completed the integration of their voice and data systems. With every new technology, come new security risks. Deploying unified communications (UC) requires both the right technology solutions and services to ensure that the workforce can benefit from a highly-connected and collaborative environment without increasing corporate risk. Instant messaging (IM) can also be a driver for corporate deployment of a UC solution. Corporations are now beginning to understand the value of instant communication, but public IM means that communications are untracked, un-archived and unfiltered. Deploying their own solution and tying it to public IM gives them the control and security they need.

Echannel

Microsoft: IM is not dying

2008-06-11T12:00:00.001-04:00

Microsoft has insisted that Nielsen figures on the decline of Instant Messaging "no more signal the end of IM than they do the end of email".

Many mainstream papers carried a report from Nielsen Online that pointed to a steep decline in the use of IM in the past year – with the considerable loss of a billion minutes to 2.9 billion per annum.

However, speaking to TechRadar.com a Microsoft spokesperson insisted that the figures are not the death knell for Windows Live Messenger.

“Windows Live Messenger is a hugely popular service across a broad demographic of consumers, which has a long established and loyal user base," said the spokesperson.

Social networks

“The emergence of social networking services has been an incredibly popular phenomenon, which has evolved how people spend time online.

“It is normal people will experiment with new services when they become available and usage patterns across services will change as people introduce new services into their online portfolio and behaviour.

“The figures released by Nielsen today are simply a reflection of the changing online ecology and no more signal the end of IM than they do the end of email.”

*Editor's note: this particular author (Patrick Goss) didn't research the decline in social network traffic as well - most notably Facebooks. *

Bullish

Although Microsoft is typically bullish in the wake of the figures, the company will be troubled by the news, as Live Messenger is the dominant Instant Messaging program in the UK.

With the likes of Facebook and GMail introducing browser-based instant chat, and other social networks adding live chat facilities the impact on standalone IM seems inevitable.

However, the service remains massively popular and the decline is unlikely to be terminal.

By Patrick Goss

[TechRadar.com]

Fake ImageShack site serving malware, links distributed over IM

2008-06-11T11:55:00.001-04:00

In a combination of domain typosquatting next to spoofed image files, malware authors managed to successfully impersonate ImageShack, the 5th largest image hosting Web site on the Internet, the result of which is a malware campaign circulating over MSN, enticing users into infecting themselves by clicking on the spammed links to fake image files. This currently active instant message (IM) malware campaign is yet another indication that the ‘don’t click on executable files’ security tip is on the verge of irrelevance.

[ZDnet Blog]

AOL launches AIM Money for Web developers

2008-06-10T11:51:00.000-04:00

AOL today announced the availability of AIM Money, a new revenue-sharing program that lets developers make money from open AIM applications. AOL also announced AIM version 6.8, the latest version of their popular IM software, which features new modules for the Buddy List and a new open API for developers to build their own mini applications to upload and share in a library.
[
IT Business Net]

From a security standpoint, not all IM platforms are created equal

2008-06-10T11:48:00.000-04:00

People at work communicate like people at home: They use wired and cellular phones, email and in rare instances, the US Postal Service. And they instant message (IM). IM is quite a problem from the security point-of-view because, like many other technologies, it became a corporate tool before it was truly secured. Any corporate security person who thinks the IM security threat is overblown should consider information from FaceTime and Akonix released this spring. Facetime found that one in four employees used IM to transmit sensitive information, such as company plans, finances and password-related credentials. Akonix Systems said that it tracked 10 new IM-based malicious code attacks in May, which brought the total number for the year to 73.

Note this is another take on the CNet article just published

[ITBusinessEdge]

Dexrex message backup launches BlackBerry support

2008-06-10T11:31:00.002-04:00

Though RIM may serve as what is arguably the best mobile mail service for millions of users, many of those with BlackBerry handsets are likely also regular SMS conversationalists. And while RIM and any interconnected Webmail services manage mail well, text messages are very much the exclusive domain of the mobile phone. A service called Dexrex has now introduced support for BlackBerry to enable QWERTY bandits to automatically store SMS messages to be accessed at any point in the future with any Internet-enabled device.

[Mashable]

How safe is IM? a security and privacy survey

2008-06-09T11:29:00.000-04:00

The number of interested parties eager to listen in on your online conversations, including what you type through IM, has never been higher. The need, in other words, for secure IM communication has never been greater. But not all IM networks offer the same privacy and security. To chart the differences, CNET News.com surveyed companies providing popular IM services and asked them to answer the same 10 questions. Does your service keep server-based logs of the content of communications, meaning what a particular user sent and received? The system administrator has the ability to configure these types of capabilities. This type of information can also be captured by third-party compliance software, such as FaceTime, Akonix and Symantec.

[C-Net]

DJ compliance watch: firms ponder when to weed out archives

2008-06-09T11:26:00.000-04:00

When it comes to companies’ vast electronic archives, there is a heated debate on the best time to hit delete.

Securities and Exchange Commission regulations allow broker-dealers to destroy electronic records, including emails and other documents, after three years. A growing number of firms, however, find themselves in a quandary about whether to keep information longer than required.

Liability questions are the main consideration. Firms are finding there is disagreement among their compliance officers and lawyers about the best time to clean house.

Compliance technology vendors say they’re seeing a range of time periods for keeping electronic data. Some firms are holding onto archives for several years, while others are keeping it indefinitely in archives and on backup tapes.

Companies, specifically people in corporate records offices, worry that by deleting the data, they lose documents they might need to defend themselves in future litigation, says Brian Babineau, an email archiving analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. That’s led some firms to lean toward keeping more records beyond the three-year requirement.

“The motives are pretty simple. Fear, mostly led by corporate counsel, that deleting any business records could come back to haunt them in the future, when either trying to defend against litigation or support a claim against them somehow,” Babineau says.

Marie-Charlotte Patterson of records-management company AXS One agrees, saying nobody wants to be responsible for pushing the ‘big red button’ that deletes all data, in case it is needed later. Another concern: By disposing of records, companies might overlook something and leave traces of data in hard-to-find places, Babineau says. This could leave them vulnerable to repercussions should a judge later learn that they didn’t provide records that they had, even if the firms didn’t know they had them.

Ronald Perelman’s much-publicized lawsuit against Morgan Stanley in 2005 illustrates this possibility. The firm initially told a judge that it didn’t have certain email archives, but later it found the records on backup tapes. The
result was an angry judge and a losing verdict.

Patterson says that other people within a firm can’t always agree. Some groups within firms, such as sales, want records of all their emails for client-management purposes and see a business need to keep the data longer. A firm’s lawyers, on the other hand, worry about the liabilities that exist if the data isn’t destroyed.

Patterson says settling on a definitive position on what to keep for how long should be the goal. “An organization needs top management to cut through all the departments and say ‘This is our corporate policy’,” she says.

Attorneys representing firms in litigation or arbitration claims don’t hesitate about drawing the line at the three-year requirement.

“The advice I provide my clients is to retain the document for a period of time consistent with SEC rules and regulations, and at that point in time discard the document,” says Robert Herskovits, an attorney with Gusrae, Kaplan, Bruno & Nusbaum who represents firms in regulatory matters.

But questions do arise when determining what information will be considered pertinent in pending litigation or arbitration cases. It’s not always easy to figure that out, lawyers say.

“Let’s say there’s an arbitration or regulatory investigation dealing with a rep who allegedly did something bad,” says Brian Rubin, a lawyer with Sutherland Asbill & Brennan who works with midsize and large firms. “The regulators or the claimants may ask for emails that in an initial look may have seemed unrelated. So it would be hard to draw a line.”

Confusion often arises because different parts of the firms aren’t working together to create a comprehensive system, says Don Montgomery, vice president of marketing for Akonix, which specializes in monitoring IMs.

“It really is either ignorance of what the requirements are,” he says, “or sort of a helpless feeling of not being able to sort out the regulations.”

[Dow Jones Newswires]

Akonix tracks 10 new IM attacks in May

2008-06-06T11:24:00.000-04:00

Akonix Systems Inc, a provider of unified policy management products for instant messaging (IM) and unified communications, announced that its IM Security Center researchers tracked 10 new malicious code attacks over IM networks in May, bringing the 2008 total to 73.

[Global Secure Systems]

Unified communications soon to become business differentiator

2008-06-05T11:21:00.001-04:00

Rapid advance in technology and a growing acceptance of unified communications – linking telephony, email, IM – are revolutionizing business communications, according to Frost & Sullivan. The analyst reports that recent trends indicate rapid adoption of fixed / mobile convergence, ‘presence’ management, as well as Internet telephony, underpinned by integrating technologies on a session initiation protocol platform.

[Manufacturing Computer Solutions]

Recent survey shows growing corporate demand for IM

2008-06-05T11:19:00.000-04:00

A recent survey suggests that 60% of businesses make use of some form of instant messaging (IM). This type of communication is mostly preferred by telecommuters and multinationals, but there is a noticeable trend for its adoption by smaller, single-office firms. Several factors have made IM a preferred means of business communication. IM offers speed and efficiency. The communication process need not be long letters – a single message sent over the tool is often much more powerful, and far more efficient.

[Newswire]

Going back to basics to fight botnets

2008-06-04T11:13:00.000-04:00

Beyond tricking someone to click on a link, botnets take advantage of users’ actions that go against long-established security best practices, such as turning off network-security software to increase performance. Users often will cut corners for performance gains, regardless of the vulnerability they bring to the enterprise. Malware can even spread unintentionally through emails coming from friends and colleagues. Therefore, users should not only know whether to trust the person sending the email, they should also have certain knowledge that the person had a clear intent to include an attachment or link. The same rules apply for the use of links and video on IM, short message service and social-networking sites.

[Top Tech News]

Protect your company from tech-savvy saboteurs

2008-06-04T09:18:00.000-04:00

It is crucial to practice good computer security procedures. The value of good security practices should never be underestimated. New technologies, such as PDAs, cell phones, thumb drives, wireless networks and instant messaging (IM), are quickly making their way into today’s workplaces. IM, which is fast replacing email in many workplaces, typically keeps little or no logs or records of the messages sent.

more from [Top Tech News]

Does UC improve productivity?

2008-06-03T10:15:00.001-04:00

The whole reason for Unified Communications (UC), it’s believed, is that UC makes your workers and your business processes more efficient and productive. But productivity benefits are almost always tough to quantify and measure reliably, and that’s certainly the case with UC. A new report out from UCStrategies takes a first whack at demonstrating the productivity benefits of UC, and the authors, Blair Pleasant and Nancy Jamison, present some interview quotes and anecdotal evidence supporting the ‘soft’ productivity benefits. The also offer up some harder data on which communications systems people actually use today, how they use those systems and what they expect from UC.

more at Information Week

Instant messaging proves useful in reducing workplace interruption

2008-06-03T09:06:00.000-04:00

Employers seeking to decrease interruptions may want to have their workers use instant messaging (IM) software, a new study suggests. A recent study by researchers at Ohio State University and University of California, Irvine found that workers who used IM on the job reported less interruption than colleagues who did not. The study challenges the widespread belief that IM leads to an increase in disruption. Some researchers have speculated that workers would use IM in addition to the phone and email, leading to increased interruption and reduced productivity.

more at Science Daily

Skype caves in to GPL requirements

2008-05-13T22:17:00.000-04:00

Skype has abandoned its efforts to avoid complying with an open-source licence that requires it to provide source code with Linux-based VoIP phones.

The company has dropped its appeal against its conviction last July in a German court of failure to comply with the General Public License version 2 (GPLv2). The license requires vendors to ship source code with any open-source product, but Skype's WSKP100 phone was sold without giving users access to the source code, according to a case brought by gpl-violations.org, a group policing open-source license violations.

Skype's appeal argued that the GPL license was not valid in Germany, claiming that GPL breaks the country's antitrust laws. This was thrown out by the appeals court and Skype has abandoned its efforts to overturn the conviction, according to software developer Harald Welte, who runs gpl-violations.org.

More at Builder au

AT&T to develop a Skype "killer"?

2008-05-07T22:40:00.000-04:00

AT&T, in cahoots with 10 to 15 other incumbent carriers including BT, Deutsche Telecom, and NTT, is allegedly planning to launch a Skype killer. GigaOm is placing good stock in a ThinkEquity research report making the prediction, ThinkEquity previously augured Cisco would buy Scientific Atlanta.

Incumbents would to offer a VoIP client that will work on incumbent broadband and 3G wireless pipes, using a backend to allow people to make free phone calls to anyone logged into it, similar to AIM, Yahoo, MSN, and Google.

FierceVoIP post

Enterprise IM: Why Public, Consumer-Grade Services Are A Poor Fit For Business

2008-05-02T12:52:00.000-04:00

Spawned on the public Internet as a tool for informal chats among friends, instant messaging is one of those handy, ingenious ideas that has morphed into an indispensible business application. Like so many technologies fueled by organic, ad hoc adoption, IM has sprouted up like a weed, planted by the individual actions of many employees and without any central planning or strategy. Yet the utility of IM is undeniable, and it has become an important part of the modern virtual office and its online business processes. Fortunately, there are means of taming the weeds of IM chaos, transforming it into an orderly garden of productivity. Several major vendors have developed commercial, enterprise-grade IM software designed to deliver the functionality users expect with the control IT departments require.

For enterprises still weighing the value of IM, there are a number of benefits and pitfalls to consider prior to making a commitment. Should IM emerge as a critical part of your business, there are a number of key features to look for in commercial products. For those not ready to make the commitment to a formal, supported IM solution, there are still ways to allow employees access to external public IM networks while controlling usage and security.

Instant Messaging: The Promise & Pain

Experts cite enhanced security and control as the primary motivation for running an internal instant messaging service with commercial software. “Security is one of the top reasons someone would pay for and install [instant messaging] in their environment and is one of the biggest differentiators with the consumer space,” says Akiba Saeedi, program director of unified communications and collaboration software at IBM Lotus Software (www.ibm
.com).

Security is of concern because instant messages have become an increasingly popular attack vector for all matter of malware, from viruses, worms, and rootkits to so-called spim (spam over IM). IM also raises other security and compliance problems, according to Don Montgomery, vice president of marketing at Akonix (www.akonix.com), because it introduces a new hole for leakage of confidential data and intellectual property and creates alternative communication channels that typically aren’t adequately monitored for regulatory compliance, standards of business conduct, or e-discovery. Just as companies have developed security policies and procedures to handle the mutating threats targeting email and the Web, Montgomery says firms need to adopt similar strategies for IM. According to Jayanth Angl, research analyst at Info-Tech, “The most visible advantages of implementing an enterprise IM solution are centralized administration and security management.”

Saeedi says customers also benefit from increased productivity after deploying an enterprise IM service. “One of the other key reasons [companies are using enterprise IM] is that it can integrate into your enterprise assets, applications, and directories.” She notes that Lotus Sametime is designed with a modular architecture that facilitates add-on functionality and integration with other applications. The extension of the enterprise IM platform to include other real-time communications tasks is termed unified communications, or UC. Common UC features include Web conferencing, desktop sharing, voice calling via integrated VoIP PBXes, and videoconferencing. All of these activities rely upon the IM system’s ability to track a user’s presence and availability.

Choosing The Right Enterprise IM Product

Experts agree that commercial IM products share a core set of management and security features. Angl notes that the major products all have the ability to integrate with corporate directories such as Active Directory or LDAP, using their underlying data and schema to create user accounts or groups and in the definition of usage roles and policies. Another critical IM security feature, according to Montgomery, is the ability to monitor and filter content for malware, inappropriate use, hostile messages, or proprietary information. Similarly, all systems should include the ability to centrally log and audit IM sessions and optionally to archive conversations as part of an overall compliance strategy.

Enterprise IM platforms also include gateways to external networks, allowing companies to create so-called IM “federations” that can span both private networks, such as those from business partners, and the popular public IM systems.

Firms that make the leap and consider IM to be a critical business service are faced with a number of deployment options. According to Angl, the big three enterprise IM products are Jabber XCP (Extensible Communications Platform; www.jabbe.com), Lotus Sametime, and Microsoft OCS (Office Communications Server; www.microsoft.com). All three are mature offerings that have built upon their text messaging origins by incorporating real-time communications features; however, as Angl cautions, these added capabilities, such as mobile device support and Web conferencing, can significantly increase the licensing cost, which typically starts at $20 to $30 per seat.

As with so many other applications, IM and UC are also available as hosted SaaS offerings. Angl notes that hosted IM is attracting some major vendors, namely Cisco’s WebEx AIM Pro Business Edition, while Montgomery adds that Akonix also provides security features to a number of IM hosting firms. According to Saeedi, adoption of hosted solutions entails a trade-off between the convenience and low acquisition costs of a service vs. the increased control and security of an in-house solution.

Angl says that many businesses may find the real-time communications and presence information of an IM service useful but not be able to justify the expense of an enterprise solution. In this case, he and Montgomery agree that companies still need to implement security measures such as a filtering appliance before allowing connections to public IM networks. Unlike email, where there is some latency in the attack sequence, Montgomery says, "instant messages can lead to instant infection.”

Benefits For The SME

Instant messaging can dramatically change the ways in which a company does business; for example, Saeedi finds that “one of the biggest use cases is virtual workforce enablement.” She feels that IM is a core communications capability for the distributed enterprise, noting that IBM employees send more than 5 million IMs every day that the company estimates save $17 million a year in phone charges. Yet, as Angl observes, “If IM’s entry into the environment was entirely employee-driven, important business considerations might have been overlooked.” Companies looking to amp up their real-time communications capabilities can choose from a wealth of industrial-strength, enterprise-ready IM and UC tools that provide features, control, and security significantly beyond what’s available on public, consumer-oriented IM networks.

by Kurt Marko

IM Strategy Recommendations

Jayanth Angl, research analyst at Info-Tech, recommends that enterprises make active efforts to understand their current instant messaging usage, the risks that uncontrolled IM use poses, and the potential benefits of IM to their businesses. A policy of benign neglect toward unplanned, bottoms-up adoption of IM is not tenable in today’s security and regulatory environment.

Examine current IM usage. Investigate whether external IM is currently being used in the organization, including which services, by whom, and for what purpose.

Determine current IM risks or gaps. Essentially, for the same reasons that enterprises do not rely on consumer email services, they should not rely on consumer IM.

Identify IM opportunities. Beyond real-time chat capabilities, the basic ability to view colleague presence and availability from within an IM client is valuable in a distributed team environment, helping to avoid “phone tag” issues.

Explore enterprise IM and UC solutions. Where requirements dictate, most enterprise IM solutions also offer the ability to interface with public IM networks, using standards-based specifications.

Investigate alternatives to securing IM. Where an enterprise IM solution is not justified, several solutions are available that can provide secure filtering and message archiving capabilities for external IM.

SOURCE: “IS IT TIME FOR AN ENTERPRISE IM SOLUTION?” JAYANTH ANGL, INFO-TECH RESEARCH, MARCH 2008

[Processor]

Malware attacks via IM jump 162% in April

2008-05-02T12:50:00.000-04:00

Scammers always try to stay one step ahead of those who fight them, and vice versa. So while security companies were focusing on protecting people’s inboxes, a massive increase in the number of malware attacks that focused on IMs was recorded in April. According to security firm Akonix, there was well over a doubling in the number of attacks over IM last month.

[TechSpot]
[Addict3d]
{And yet another news story about this topic...]

IM malware attacks increase, report

2008-05-02T12:48:00.000-04:00

Malicious code attacks through IM services have tripled between March and April, according to a report from Akonix Systems. The jump accompanies a boom in deployment of enterprise unified communications (UC) systems over the past few months, a fact that is unlikely to be a mere coincidence, the company said.

http://www.scmagazineus.com/IM-malware-attacks-increase-report/article/109663/

http://scmagazine.com/uk/news/article/806988/im-malware-attacks-increase/

http://www.securecomputing.net.au/news/75143,im-malware-attacks-increase-report.aspx

Be careful with whom you chat

2008-05-02T12:47:00.000-04:00

Security firm Akonix Systems is warning of a big increase in attacks that target instant messaging (IM) systems. According to the vendor, its IM Security Center researchers uncovered 21 new malicious code attacks traveling over IM networks in April, which represents a surge of 162% over the number of March attacks.

[Information Week]

Evolving Market for email, Web and IM security products

2008-05-01T12:45:00.000-04:00

Research and Markets has announced the addition of ‘Email, Web and IM Security Market Trends, 2008-2011’ to their offering. This is a study that focuses on the current problems with spam, viruses, spyware, data leakage, encryption, Web-based applications and other email, Web and IM security issues in the enterprise. The study will focus on how organizations are managing these problems and how the market for security products and services will need to evolve over the next several years.

TMC: VoIP and CRM News]

Instant messaging spikes in April...and so does the news about it

2008-05-01T12:41:00.000-04:00

Instant messaging (IM) attacks leapt 162 percent in April according to security firm Akonix. The company tracked 21 new malicious code attacks over the month. The jump accompanies a boom in take-up of enterprise unified communications systems over the past few months, a fact that is unlikely to be a mere coincidence, Akonix said.

[InfoWorld]
[TechWorld]
[IDG News]
[IDG News (part 2)]
[Computer World]

Infosecurity 2008: use of new technologies exposing UK firms to risk, report finds

2008-04-23T16:41:00.004-04:00

This article seems to contradict the last... that adoption of new technologies is putting the UK businesses at risk. This may be a reason why there is slow adoption, or maybe they just don't understand how to implement proper security to utilize these technologies effectively.... you decide:

The adoption of new technologies is exposing UK companies to high levels of risk, according to a government security survey. The 2008 Information Security Breaches survey for the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform reveals that although 17% of UK companies have adopted VoIP, only 30% have evaluated the security risk involved. IM was another area of concern because it exposes companies to the same risks as email, but half of companies using IM do not have any security controls in place. The report notes that financial companies take the most steps to mitigate IM risks, but said even in this sector, a third have taken no steps.

Computer weekly article

UK business slow to adopt IM use

2008-04-23T13:36:00.000-04:00

Nearly three-quarters of UK companies block access to instant messaging (IM) services, according to an IT security firm. A recent survey of 1,000 enterprise IT directors, unveiled at Infosec Europe 2008, found that fear of data loss, time-wasting and other misuse outweighs the potential productivity benefits.

This sounds eerily like a survey in the US from 2002?

- ¾ of business block IM.
- Only 11 percent have an IM policy
- Even though FinServ industry is most likely to use IM, only 16% responded that they are monitoring?

Full report from survey here

IBM predicts technology will accelerate global expansion of small US businesses

2008-04-23T10:38:00.001-04:00

Many more American small businesses will go global using collaboration technology to transform themselves from local businesses into global trading partners, predicted IBM executive Sean Poulley at the US Small Business Administration’s National Small Business Week conference. Poulley described how the evolution of technologies, such as Web conferencing, IM, software appliances and portals, offered as software-as-a-service applications will increasingly allow local businesses to transform into global trading partners.

PressMediaWire article

Internet fraud netting more millions

2008-04-04T10:35:00.000-04:00

Crime continues to thrive online at the expense of Web surfers. Internet fraud involving auctions, identity theft and other activities cost US consumers a record $239 million in 2007, says a government report released Thursday. More crooks are using instant messaging (IM) to push identity theft and other malicious viruses onto the PCs of unsuspecting victims, says Don Montgomery, vice president of marketing for Akonix Systems, a maker of security software for IM and peer-to-peer networks. “We’re seeing more criminal attacks that are clearly more sophisticated and more organized than in the past,” he said.

Investors Article

Enterprise networks rife with unauthorized apps, study says

2008-04-03T10:37:00.000-04:00

Think you know what types of software employees are running on your enterprise network? A new study suggests that you may know a lot less than you think. Employees in most enterprises are circumventing corporate security policies by deploying unauthorized applications, including video viewers, streaming audio, P2P and Google applications, according to a study that will be released next week by next-generation firewall vendor Palo Alto Networks. “It’s assumed that a big portion of the HTTP traffic that corporate networks support is used for Web browsing, such as checking the sports scores or online shopping,” says Steve Mullaney, vice president of marketing at Palo Alto. “But what we found was that 90 percent of HTTP traffic is not browsing – it’s Web-based applications like Web mail, instant messaging and Google apps.”

Employees use variety of tactics to circumvent IT policies and misuse the corporate network [Darkreading Article]

The impact of the consumerization of IT on IT security management

2008-04-01T10:32:00.000-04:00

Driven by the proliferation of high-end consumer technology, such as PDAs, MP3 players and smartphones, we have seen increasing adoption of consumer technology in the corporate environment. Today’s personal mobile devices have already been proven to increase personal and employee productivity. Despite a rather limited range of mobile applications and services being used in typical corporate environments – mostly email, instant messaging and, less frequently, presence awareness – the use of smartphones is becoming increasingly commonplace in mid- to large-sized organizations. According to a recent report from Osterman Research, 15 percent of the corporate workforce used employee-supplied mobile devices in 2007, and a survey from TechTarget forecasts that this figure will exceed 25 percent in 2008.

Continuity Central

MUN signs out of instant messaging

2008-03-15T09:25:00.000-04:00

In light of recent leaks of confidential data from various provincial government sectors, Memorial University is beefing up their precautions to ensure that private information belonging to both students and faculty is secure, by implementing a ban on all instant messaging programs on university-owned computers.

Memorial University - The Muse, Student Paper

QED Connect announces IM Manager now available for Omni Manager

2008-03-14T09:37:00.000-04:00

QED Connect, Inc, an innovative software-as-a-service provider for the information security market, announced that general availability of its instant message (IM) Manager product will begin in April 2008. Previously announced in February, IM Manager is a software tool that increases an organization’s ability to manage IM communications for productivity, security and regulatory compliance purposes. IM Manager records and archives all IM conversations taking place on company computers, laptops and wireless devices anywhere in the world.

more at MarketWire

Next generation messaging - Care of the community

2008-03-14T09:28:00.000-04:00

Contextual messaging, id management, personal profile, call it what you will, could it be that messaging will be become an embedded service within other applications, rather than merely a standalone application in its own right?

It's a given golden rule of mobile that once you offer cross network interoperability to users for any given service, use rockets. Of course, the golden example is SMS (the bronze example is MMS) and operators hoped that by combining their efforts within the GSMA's Personal Instant Messaging Initiative, they would be able to sprinkle some of the same magic dust over instant messaging.

more from Mobile Europe

Mobile tech gives small business a big boost

2008-03-13T09:43:00.000-04:00

Three trends are becoming clear about small-business use of technology, especially mobile tech. First, business owners are using mobile devices more and more. About 42 percent now spend at least one-third of their time away from the office and stay in touch via mobile device, according to a new study by Warrillow & Co, a small-business marketing firm. Second, even consumer-type tech solutions, such as blogs and IM, can help increase productivity in small and medium businesses. Third, tech manufacturers see the trends and are tweaking their products and services to appeal to the mobile small-business user.

more at azcentral.com

eBay now letting Skype be Skype, exec says

2008-03-13T09:33:00.000-04:00

Two-and-a-half years after eBay bought Skype, the online auction giant has moved away from trying to create new, merged capabilities through the acquisition and is letting Skype be what it is.

"There's less focus at eBay today on finding the place where eBay and Skype intersect on the Web and mash up to create a new ... communication paradigm for eBay, and more focus on Skype growing its business and eBay growing its business," said Jonathan Christensen, Skype's general manager of audio and video, at the Emerging Communications Conference (eComm) in Mountain View, California.

more at InfoWorld

Graduates bemused by low-tech offices

2008-03-12T10:36:00.000-04:00

New graduates entering the workplace need more innovative communication technologies, such as instant messaging (IM) and Web cams, to help them perform to the best of their abilities in the office. A survey by communications company Plantronics showed that technologies used frequently by people outside the professional environment to communicate are now considered by graduates to be ripe for the office.

...

"Graduates have grown up with newer forms of communication and we are not just talking email and mobile phones.

"By embracing IM and hands-free, or even providing this new workforce with greater flexibility in where and when they work, employers can maximise the potential of the young talent they have."

Two-thirds of managers in the UK indicated that graduates communicate less vocally than their colleagues and believe them to be forsaking face-to-face and telephone conversations in favour of email.

...

more at vnunet.com

Microsoft, Nortel transform how people and businesses interact with new joint unified communications solutions

2008-03-11T10:46:00.000-04:00

Microsoft Corp and Nortel announced the availability of four new joint unified communications (UC) solutions designed to transform how people around the world connect, communicate and collaborate. With the Nortel and Microsoft Carrier Hosted UC Solution, service providers can offer hosted UC solutions to SMBs and enterprises using Nortel’s Communication Server 2000 softswitch with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging. The solution allows providers to equip workers with IM, VoIP, click-to-call, video conferencing and other multimedia services through Microsoft Office Communicator 2007.

more at Manufacturing Business Technology

Security is an ecosystem, not a product

2008-03-11T10:41:00.000-04:00

In security, you can’t just pick the right answer and stick with it – you must maintain personal security awareness and an ongoing ability to make good decisions based on that awareness. For instance, there’s the matter of spam. Spam is not a problem you can solve by guarding against it. You have exactly two options for truly protecting yourself from spam. You can stop using any communication media that allow for automation and bulk sending. This means no more instant messaging (IM) services, email and SMS texting.

more on the ZD Net India

Survey: IM, Social Networking, Web email and Music download sites pose problems

2007-11-09T13:13:00.000-05:00

Only a third of IT managers block access to music download sites, even though almost two-thirds perceive such Web sites to affect productivity and pose a possible security threat. IM applications were also marked out by 53 percent of IT managers as being a danger to the company, while social networking sites rated 48 percent and Web-based email clocked up 46 percent.

Computing.co.UK article

The tricky business of network use policies

2007-11-09T13:03:00.000-05:00

The IT manager at Vienna, Virginia-based C2 Technologies was frustrated. So many employees were downloading viruses that the company’s networks slowed to a crawl. One of the likely sources of the viruses was the company’s IM system. It was impossible to determine out who was IM’ing relatives in Thailand and who was IM’ing a client about a project. So the IT manager did what he figured was the next best thing: He brought the IM sytem down.

bMighty.com article by Naomi Grossman

Web 2.0 in the workplace: six steps to securing next gen communications

2007-11-09T13:00:00.000-05:00

The newest generation of employees connects with friends on Facebook and shares YouTube videos on lunch breaks or throughout the working day. Email is being supplemented with real-time conversations enabled through instant messaging (IM) and Web-based applications such as blogs, wikis and Webmail. However, as Web 2.0 created new opportunities for peer-to-peer and enterprise-to-customer interaction, it also opened doors for hackers to launch new and varied attacks.

SC Magazine

Presensoft introduces instant response direct-to-desktop emergency alert system

2007-11-08T13:35:00.000-05:00

Presensoft Inc, a leading provider of security solutions for public IM communications, announced the launch of Presensoft Instant Response, a new product designed to aid in emergency alert notification, as a direct-to-desktop application. Presensoft Instant Response is the first and only emergency management system designed for IM, and includes a delay-free spam bypassing feature that ensures instant delivery of urgent notifications. Alerts can also be authenticated with Presensoft IM Caller ID to ensure that the right message is sent to the right user, at the right time.

Marketwire News

Akonix Systems October threat watch

2007-11-08T12:23:00.000-05:00

Akonix Systems, Inc warns that its IM Security Center researchers tracked 22 malicious code attacks over instant messaging (IM) networks. Although the number of monthly IM threats decreased from September, Akonix forecasts this is the calm before the storm as businesses implement unified communications platforms in 2008.

Instant Messaging Planet

Microsoft updates Mac Office and kills Mac IM

2007-11-08T10:19:00.000-05:00

Microsoft released its latest software update for Office 2004 for Mac. And Microsoft is to kill off MSN Messenger for Mac, replacing the IM software with a new product. The company plans to ditch its existing IM solution for Mac to develop and deliver a more advanced client.

PC Advisor News

Microsoft launches Windows Live, suite of online services

2007-11-08T07:16:00.000-05:00

After spending two years developing and improving it, Microsoft finally launched Windows Live, its official package of free desktop programs for email, IM, blogging and sharing photos.

News Headlines Story

SkypeIn, SkypeOut -- Next, SkypeTap?

2007-11-07T20:39:00.000-05:00

Congress enacted the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) in 1994 to allow law enforcement the ability to intercept newer forms of digital technology, such as cell phones, and thus keep pace with criminals who use them.

There is no question that traditional phone service, like land lines, comes within the purview of CALEA (Pub. L. No. 103-414, 108 Stat. 4279). The question is does the act apply to a company like Skype, whose product is based on computers and Internet access without the use of a phone?

The purpose of CALEA and the nature of Skype, a software program that allows digital transfer of the human voice through the Internet, renders the law applicable to such software.

With the right software, the human voice can be converted into digital packets of data and sent through the Internet to connected computers. This development has led to the use of such services as: Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), T-Mobile's Hotspot at Home service, as well as Skype.

CALEA recognizes that to remain an effective and efficient weapon against crime, terrorism law enforcement must have the capability to intercept, when appropriate and authorized, these newer means of digital communication. Yet the law does not represent a weakening of wiretap requirements, but merely a means to compel public communication providers to make their digital communication systems accessible to law enforcement when necessary to uncover criminal activity.

Over the past decade, with the Internet's explosion into almost everyone's life, more changes are expected on how people communicate, making implementation of CALEA imperative to reach its legislative goal. Thus under the act, phone companies must allow access by law enforcement to phone communications, whether land line or cell. CALEA's standards, therefore, apply to common carriers, facilities-based broadband Internet access providers and VoIP services.

More on the prospects of tapping Skype communications at Law.com

Analyst rings death knell for SMS

2007-11-07T20:11:00.000-05:00

Allen Scott, general manager at communications developer NeuStar NGM, believes that mobile instant messaging (IM) is the way forward as it allows consumers to do so much more with their phones.

"Next-generation messaging will act as an easy-to-use communications tool and control point for users," he said.

"Mobile IM acts as a plug-in to other applications and services such as social networking, music sharing and dating.

"This is partly because of the awareness many users have of PC-based IM, and partly because of the viral nature of the service.

"But mostly it is because users already understand the benefits of messaging and recognise that mobile IM takes SMS to a new level with the added benefit of presence information."

Full Story on SMS declining revenues and the texting market at VNUNET.com

Qnective Inc. Launches Qporter Messaging Software

2007-11-07T16:59:00.000-05:00

Qnective Inc. (OTCBB:QNTV), through its Qporter subsidiary, has launched a beta version of the Qporter messenger service in German speaking Europe, starting with a limited launch last month in Switzerland.

Qporter's software communication tool combines the benefits of instant messaging with "push to talk" capability as well as VoIP while enabling the exchange of multimedia files, voice clips, pictures and Giganticons. Qporter enables the user to communicate at home from a desktop computer and on the road via a cell phone. Unlike SMS and MMS, the Qporter service is free of charge and the software is available to download from the company's website (www.qporter.com). Sending messages, photos and videos is free among Qporter users. The only costs incurred are service provider connection and data transfer fees. For more information, please visit: www.qporter.com

Primenews Wire

Securing data in a Web 2.0 world

2007-11-07T13:54:00.000-05:00

You probably heard a lot about a new Internet phenomenon called Web 2.0 – an unfortunately misleading name not for a new version of the Web, but for an evolution in the way people use it as a highly dynamic, connected and interactive environment for distributing and sharing information. The use of these new online content technologies is significant, and it is growing rapidly. For example, over the next 12 months, use of IM or chat applications will grow by over 10 percent, corporate use of wikis and RSS / Atom feeds will double and corporate blogging will almost triple.

DestinationCRM article

Mac OS X firewall blocks Skype and online gamers

2007-11-06T23:56:00.000-05:00

The list of problems with the firewall bundled with Mac OS X Leopard operating system is growing.

Not only is Leopard's firewall deactivated upon installation it also trips up Skype and online gaming applications. Both German security news service Heise and security blogger Rich Mogull encountered the problem, the latest in a series each has discovered with the firewall.

The Register

Joost taps meebo for instant messaging

2007-11-06T14:04:00.000-05:00

Joost, the global TV distribution network backed by Skype cofounder Niklas Zennström, has signed up instant messaging web site meebo to provide IM functionality for Joost users.

Joost connects content owners with a global audience and claims to offer more than 15,000 shows across 250 channels. “Participation in community activities has emerged as one of the most significant trends in consumer behaviour,” said Mike Volpi, CEO of Joost. “By offering our viewers a robust channel chat option, they can chat with people interested in the same shows and subjects – and ultimately customise and enrich their entertainment experiences.”

Meebo claims that at internal survey of its users showed 25 percent of them using IM while watching TV. Seth Sternberg, CEO and co-founder of meebo, said: "there’s a lot more we can be doing to connect people who share a common passion around a specific show or genre.”

IT Wire for story

Symantec to acquire Vontu

2007-11-06T13:46:00.000-05:00

Symantec Corp announced it signed a definitive agreement to acquire Vontu, the leader in data loss prevention solutions, for $350 million, which will be paid in cash and assumed options. Vontu data monitoring and prevention solutions stop confidential data from being sent outside the organization through email, Web or instant messaging (IM).

eBiz news

Should IT managers give employees leeway to instal non business related software?

2007-10-27T08:06:00.000-04:00

How much leeway should IT managers give employees? In a debate-style Wall Street Journal Online interview with two CIOs, one kept using phrases like ‘controlled’ and ‘tightly managed’. So, is it a good idea to let employees use their own apps and devices, or experiment with new technology on company computers? No way, says Tom Tabor, CIO of Pittsburgh-based health insurer Highmark, Inc. “We do not allow access to any Web-based email, IM or Wi-Fi access. We do not see material impact to our employees by restricting access to these. Additionally, we do not allow noncorporate flash drives, cameras and other personal devices to be accessed via USB ports on PCs.”

Continue at bMighty.com blog story...

...and see full article at WSJ

Critical Business Information Goes Unsecured

2007-10-26T20:03:00.000-04:00

Critical business information goes unsecured A high percentage of proprietary business communications are being handled nonchalantly through unsecured channels – such as Web email and personal instant messaging (IM) – raising serious concerns about the potential loss of intellectual property, according to new research released at the Microsoft Global Technology Summit in San Jose, Calif. The research discovered that 78 percent of business decision makers and 85 percent of technology decision makers reported they used at least one of a number of insecure public communications tools to collaborate with partners.

CIO Insights Story

How do you get your head around ‘risk’?

2007-07-09T15:09:00.000-04:00

Businesses have started to realize understanding risk isn’t just about working out what security vulnerabilities or weaknesses need to be shored up, but about finding a point of balance where performance is not compromised by too little or too heavy-handed a consideration of liabilities. Whether or not staff are using IM, or breaching email usage policies or bringing their iPod to work or leaking vital intellectual property – these are all issues that should have been addressed ahead of time by IT as well as HR, legal and line managers.

ZDNet-Asia News

Google to Acquire Postini

2007-07-09T15:05:00.000-04:00

Google Inc announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Postini, a global leader in on-demand communications security and compliance solutions serving more than 35,000 businesses and 10 million users worldwide. Postini’s services – which include message security, archiving, encryption and policy enforcement – can be used to protect a company’s email, instant messaging (IM) and other Web-based communications.

Business Wire News

REVIEW: Yet another instant messenger application: Inlux Messenger

2007-07-09T11:12:00.000-04:00

Verdict (by Werner Ruotsalainen):

If you can live with the restrictions and/or you need the settable codepage support or the excellent, fine-tunable notification capabilities, you may want to give it a try. Otherwise, you may want to prefer other clients, particularly if you need for example Jabber / AIM support, auto-logging and conferencing capabilities, multiple logins or, as with Live Messenger, native file / voice clip transfer.

Full Review details and screen shots here. [Smartphone and PocketPC Mag]

Inlux Messenger Download [in Russian]

TinyBuddy IM: Instant Messaging for iPhone

2007-07-08T15:23:00.000-04:00

Have an iPhone, but wish you could IM your buddies? Now you can, with TinyBuddy IM. It is an AIM® Enabled web-based IM tool. It works by using the Web AIM API, OpenAuth and Dojo.

The nice thing about this solution: you do not send your AIM password to me -- you are redirected to AOL's OpenAuth servers for authentication. My JavaScript only sees an auth token. Furthermore, my web page has to get your explicit consent before accessing your buddy list data and before sending the first IM or presence change.

So the price of this added security is pop-up windows. A new window will be popped so you can authenticate with the OpenAuth servers, and also when giving consent to the application to access your buddy list and IM. For the consent prompts, you can choose "Grant Always" to avoid them on subsequent logins. I think the pop-ups are worth the added security, and at least in iPhone's Safari, window popping looks neat. Unfortunately, the OpenAuth Sign In and Consent pages are made for larger windows, so you will have to double-tap zoom to read them.

More by James Burke at http://tagneto.blogspot.com

iPhone gets Instant Messaging: Trillian Astra for iPhone!

2007-07-08T15:10:00.000-04:00

One of the most frequent cause of rants about the iPhone seems about to be solved: Cerulean Studios are working on porting their Trillian Astra cross-protocol instant messenger to Macs and to the iPhone.
IM on the iPhone

Not only that, but they have also started a public alpha testing program. Yes, the application is growing rapidly, and yes, you might get lucky and get to use it soon.

Click on for a big, juicy shot and for some more details. [Coolest-gadgets.com]

IM at Work, Part 2: Tools for Locking Down

2007-07-07T15:35:00.000-04:00

Applications such as IM, Skype, and Web conferencing can deliver significant business value to business users. However, they can also introduce three main kinds of business risks: inbound threats, outbound leakage and regulatory and e-discovery non-compliance. The challenge is that many organizations have a mix of both public IM usage and enterprise IM usage.

Technology News

IM users to get etiquette lessons

2007-07-07T15:19:00.000-04:00

Business people can now find out whether they should be talking to their boss using instant messaging (IM), or when the best time is to phone customers, with the help of some 21st century etiquette lessons.

The Finishing Academy - which specializes in business and social etiquette - has produced the Business and Communications Etiquette Guide in association with Microsoft, which looks at getting the best out of communications at work.

More at Silicon.com

Instant Messaging attacks increase 723 percent in Q1

2007-07-05T15:49:00.000-04:00

Gartner predicts that all enterprises will be using Instant Messenger (IM) by 2010, which should send alarm bells ringing as IM attacks have increased by more than 700 percent in the past year.

The analyst group predicts that penetration levels for enterprise-grade IM will rise from around 25 percent today to nearly 100 percent by the end of the decade.

ZDNet Asia

IM at Work, Part 1: Idle Chatter, Serious Risk

2007-06-29T15:37:00.000-04:00

A recent monthly Instant Messaging Threat Watch by security firm Akonix tracked 20 malicious code attacks over IM networks during the month of May, bringing the 2007 total to 170 threats. The number of security threats associated with unmanaged instant messaging during work hours is steadily increasing. On average, at least one IM attack occurs per day.

Technology News

The increasing use of IM in the office

2007-06-25T15:40:00.000-04:00

According to the latest industry report from Gartner, 95% of all corporate employees will be using instant messaging (IM) as a primary form of communication by the year 2013.

Sales of enterprise-class IM systems, on the other hand, will surge from the current $267 million in 2005 to more than $688 million in 2010.

Says David Mario Smith, an analyst at Gartner:

We saw IM start as a social phenomenon. Now it’s crept into the enterprise.

Understandably, the rise of the IM in the office is a development that has both CIOs and IT managers paying some serious attention to. Chief among the concerns, obviously, is the increased potential of viruses and malware infestations, as well as risk of serious security breaches.

More at Baseline Mag

Review: ILoveIM.com web-based IM service

2007-05-17T15:03:00.000-04:00

ILoveIM.com is less sophisticated than many of the other web-based IM apps we've tested (see below). From its advertising-heavy home page to its limited features, ILoveIM.com lacks broad appeal.

ILoveIM lets you connect to AIM, Google Talk, MSN Messenger or Yahoo Messenger from its home page. You can sign on using your existing screen name and password, but you can't connect to more than one service at a time.

You'll also have to look past myriad text and flashing ads on the ILoveIM page to find the actual information it contains. Several pop-up ads craftily managed to elude my pop-up blocker - another black mark against ILoveIM.

More at PC Advisors.com

Parlano releases MindAlign 2007

2007-04-11T11:57:00.000-04:00

Parlano Inc announced MindAlign 2007, the most advanced persistent group-chat solution and the foundation of a growing number of organizations’ unified-communications strategies.

More on announcement on TMCnet

Skype 2.6 beta adds call transfer

2007-04-11T11:56:00.000-04:00

Voice Over IP (VOIP) software maker Skype rolled out a new beta release of Skype for Mac, version 2.6.

MacWorld News

ICQ, AIM flaw poses file transfer trouble

2007-04-10T11:42:00.000-04:00

People who use AIM or ICQ for instant messaging are vulnerable to a file-transfer path-traversal vulnerability that could be remotely exploited. Those who would rather not have someone out there dropping files on their systems over AIM or ICQ have different options available to them right now. An iDefense Labs report said that fixes to AIM’s infrastructure will mitigate the problem for AIM version 5.9 and earlier, although AIM’s parent AOL suggests people upgrade AIM to a current version.

More at SecurityProNews

AOL forces Gaim name change

2007-04-09T11:39:00.000-04:00

The popular, multi-protocol instant messaging client Gaim has, due to legal pressure from AOL regarding the trademarked name AIM, changed its name to Pidgin. This marks the second time the developers have changed the project name to appease AOL.

More on Wired Blog

Instant messaging in the business world

2007-04-09T11:37:00.000-04:00

The adoption of instant messaging (IM) across corporate networks outside of the control of IT organizations creates many risks and liabilities for companies who do not effectively manage and support IM use. Companies implement specialized IM archiving and security products and services like those from Secure Computing, Akonix, Surfcontrol and ScanSafe to mitigate these risks and provide safe, secure, productive IM capabilities to their employees.

Live Spaces Article

Reuters Collaborates With Yahoo! to Provide Enterprise Level Instant Messaging Connectivity to the Global Energy Markets

2007-04-06T11:32:00.000-04:00

PR News wire on EarthTimes:

Reuters Messaging 6.0 enables energy market professionals to gain real- time access to their market counterparts globally across front, middle and back offices, increasing the efficiency of pre-trade discussion, post-trade scheduling, transportation and logistics. It also allows energy traders to quickly post prices to Platts daily via Reuters Messaging, a key source of energy pricing data.

With the introduction of IM connectivity to Yahoo! Messenger, Reuters Messaging 6.0 offers the ability to send text based messages, view presence, and access conversation history between networks by signing into one service. In addition to connectivity to Yahoo! Messenger, Reuters Messaging 6.0 adds tools to graphically share market data and insight with market counterparts. Reuters Messaging is the first enterprise instant messaging service to connect to the three leading public instant messaging networks providing extended reach to the financial community.

Ireland: Talk to your buddies online or on 3 for free

2007-04-06T11:30:00.000-04:00

3, Ireland’s mobile media network, today announced that its customers can now talk to their buddies using Microsoft’s Window’s Live Messenger service for free, for life.

Both 3Pay Monthly and 3Pay customers will be able to take text messaging to the next level and chat online in real-time with friends and family on their mobile or PC.

Using the same online ‘Messenger’ experience, 3 customers will be able to use their existing username and password to access their buddy list and then view and respond to messages instantly.

More at Irish Development News

Collaboration – making it easy with IT

2007-04-06T11:26:00.000-04:00

People need time to collaborate, as well as an appropriate space and environment in which to collaborate. These needs are addressed by an array of collaboration software tools that come in a variety of shapes and sizes, from the humble peer-to-peer-based freeware for presence detection and instant messaging on the desktop, to enterprise-wide content-management solutions that deliver shared workspaces with end-to-end collaboration functionality.

Rest at CBR Online

Chat Watch SPEAR Edition released for Investigative IM logging

2007-04-06T11:20:00.000-04:00

Chat Watch SPEAR (Software to Protect, Enforce and Respond) Edition is a software tool to assist law enforcement agencies with investigations that concern instant messaging. Chat Watch SPEAR Edition organizes the details of the investigation and provides the ability to log instant message conversations. Chat Watch SPEAR Edition can have multiple investigators and investigations, supports logging today's most popular instant messaging services, and Chat Watch SPEAR Edition can create reports of the investigation in formats such as PDF and DOC.

Oak Hill, WV (PRWeb) April 5, 2007 -- Zemerick Software, Inc. proudly announces the release of Chat Watch SPEAR (Software to Protect, Enforce and Respond) Edition.

Chat Watch SPEAR Edition is specifically designed to assist law enforcement agencies in their crime investigations involving instant messaging. By providing a central location to organize the investigative details, actively log instant messages and create investigation reports, Chat Watch SPEAR Edition reduces the time necessary to conduct such investigations and ensures accurate records of instant messages.

Full announcement at eMedia Wire

Yahoo IM Vulnerabilities: Patched

2007-04-06T11:17:00.000-04:00

Yahoo has patched a buffer overflow vulnerability in its instant-messaging tool that would have enabled attackers to potentially execute code on a compromised machine.

The flaw exists in an ActiveX control that is part of the Yahoo Messenger audio conference control. If exploited, a buffer overflow could cause a user to be involuntarily logged out of a chat or instant messaging session, the crash of an application such as Internet Explorer or the execution of code.

More from the ChannelInsider

Avaya Integration Will Bring Google Talk to Desk Phones

2007-02-28T10:34:00.000-05:00

I find this incredibly awesome and a great step towards multiple company technology collaborations. Being able to bridge existing IP phone technology with Google talk, and online office applications provides small businesses that much more incentive to look at alternatives to Microsoft's collaboration suite.

To hear some of the wilder speculation, it shouldn’t be more than a few more years before Google is providing most of the applications and communication services most people will ever want. They'll use Google Apps hosted document processing and spreadsheet services to do all their office tasks, and make all of their phone calls over the Internet via Google Talk. In short, Google will replace both Microsoft and AT&T. But while such a vision may border on fantasy, a plan Avaya announced last week could bring at least the telephony part a step closer to reality.

IP Office plus Google Apps could prove attractive to small and mid-sized businesses. [VoIP News]

Skype Pricing Creeping Up

2007-02-23T10:01:00.000-05:00

Charging each subscriber a €2 per month service fee might seem like a strange next step for a free phone service, but the eBay-owned Skype has moved to bundle a number of what it describes as its 'favorite' add-on services into a new offering Skype Pro.
Skype Pro takes the company in something of a new direction as eBay seeks a way to recoup the massive investment it made in the predominantly free peer to peer voice application.

Earlier this year the company added a €0.039 cent connection fee on every call which already started to push the pricing advantage the company has over traditional non-P2P VoIP Service providers.

More details at this VoIP News site story.

Skype 3.1 beta adds virtual yellow pages

2007-02-23T09:58:00.000-05:00

Although Skype 3.0 was just released a few months ago, a new public beta version has already been made available. Skype 3.1 brings to the table, among other things, including a new business search feature.

SkypeFind is the main addition to 3.1, and Skype is calling it a feature that allows users to find and review local businesses. With this new addition, which is largely user-driven, Skype hopes it will be able to create a virtual yellow pages type of directory.

Check the Skype blog for additions details and screen shots.

Evolution of employee monitoring stretches far beyond email

2007-02-22T10:04:00.000-05:00

The concept of organizations keeping a watchful eye on employees during company hours is nothing new. From the introduction of the time card 120 years ago, which required employees to clock in at the beginning and end of the work day, employee monitoring has evolved from simple confirmation that individuals are present and accounted for, to more detailed insight into employee activities taking place while "on the clock."

This evolution has been driven in part by today’s widespread use of email in the workplace, plus the increasing popularity of instant messaging, blogs and other online communication forums - all of which expose companies to new data security risks.

The boom in electronic communications, combined with business challenges - such as increased industry competition - and the introduction of data and privacy laws on both a national and state level, require organizations to take extra steps to reduce the risks associated with outbound email and to protect corporate assets in the process.

Continue with the birth of email, the risks, content security and the reality of the evolving communications landscape.

The top ten trends for SMBs in 2007 by AMI Partners

2007-02-08T10:24:00.000-05:00

The top ten IT trends for global SMB markets were released by New York-based Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, Inc, a consulting firm specializing in IT, Internet, telecom and business services market intelligence trends and strategy, with a strong focus on global small and medium business (SMB) enterprises. Unified communications: To unify or not to unify? AMI predicts that VoIP will begin a long transition from a market-driven attraction of all-in-one VoIP appliances that support voice / unified messaging / security / mobility with provisions for remote management and desktop / server collaboration application integration. Among SMBs, there will also be steady growth in enterprise messaging applications such as IBM / Lotus Sametime and Exchange Instant Messaging services as these companies realize the benefits and convenience of real-time communications.

[CRN India]

Micromethod launches SIP / SIMPLE presence server for unified communication

2007-01-16T12:51:00.000-05:00

Micromethod Technologies launches SIPoint server that consists of SIP proxy, registrar, XCAP functions and SIMPLE presence engine. By using SIP Instant Messaging and Presence Leverage Extension (SIMPLE) technology and providing a core set of routing, presence and resource management functions, SIPoint server can be applied to wide array of real-time VoIP communication applications and services. Through open programming SIP Servlet API, any Web developer can easily extend and customize SIPoint Server to tightly integrate with business process and portal applications.

While Micromethod SIPoint server’s proxy function provides accurate routing of general SIP messages and presence information; the presence engine collects and updates user presence information (online / offline, busy and away) as well as user capability (Audio, Video, IM, Collaboration).

Emedia Wire

Jabber XCP scales past one million concurrent users

2007-01-16T12:49:00.000-05:00

Jabber, Inc. today announced the results of load and scalability testing conducted in Sun Microsystems’ Benchmark Centers. The tests were performed on the Jabber Extensible Communications Platform (Jabber XCP) and began with a benchmark of 420,000 concurrent users on two Sun Fire T2000 servers. At the peak of scalability testing, the messaging platform was supporting in excess of one million concurrent users in a single Jabber XCP domain stretched across eight Sun Fire T2000 servers. Each additional server added the capability to support an incremental 150,000 concurrent users. Over the course of the trials, Jabber, Inc. reports that CPU utilization decreased significantly with each additional box, even with the additional users, suggesting that the efficiency of Jabber XCP increases with greater scale.

Business Wire News

Plugoo: An Embeddable Online Chat Widget

2007-01-12T15:48:00.000-05:00

Online chat has become more and more popular these days. With the many Instant Messaging (IM) software that we have today, chatting has become easier. Now how can we integrate that into our website? Chatting with our web visitors? Now that’s interesting. How can we make that work so that it’s convenient for us? Fortunately for us, there’s Plugoo.

Plugoo is a web2.0 embeddable flash online instant messaging widget. Plugoo allows you to have a direct chat from your Instant Messenger (IM) software (Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, AIM, GoogleTalk, Jabber or ICQ) with any visitor of your blog or personal website without having them install anything. All they have to do is use your Plugoo IM widget in your site.

Full article at World Tech Logic.com

Another Voice Convergence Coming of Age

2007-01-12T13:43:00.000-05:00

We've reported (VoIP Planet) in the past on efforts to integrate cell phone service with instant messaging networks and the voice applications that ride on them, but Talkster is something different. Explaining why isn't necessarily simple.

...

One key element here is that enterprise workers are increasingly using instant messaging networks for business communication—these days, mostly public IM networks. While this is convenient and effective, public IM networks are problematic from a corporate IT perspective in that they are outside management's control and cannot be monitored for content—can't comply with either corporate policy or government mandate to log and archive communications.

It follows, then, that alternatives to public IM networks will be adopted in the enterprise—alternatives that can be managed or regulated.

Full article at VoIP Planet

Business intelligence gets collaborative

2007-01-12T11:38:00.000-05:00

Collective intelligence is an organization’s most precious asset. It’s what makes the difference between a successful enterprise, one that can pool its expertise to address common opportunities and threats, and a competitive also-ran.

Instant messaging is central to the business intelligence industry’s collaboration road map. For example, Hyperion has announced a product that will embed IM into an always-on desktop business intelligence interface, enabling more direct communications among decision makers in response to real-time feeds of key performance indicators.

Continue at ComputerWorld eBusiness Section

Information security is top IT career for 2007, says FindTheRightSchool.com

2007-01-12T08:33:00.000-05:00

With instant messaging (IM) network attacks increasing, information security is expected to be one of the hottest careers in information technology in 2007. Because of the number of employees who use IM at work, companies will need qualified information security professionals to combat hacker threats and implement new federal rules on e-discovery. FindTheRightSchool.com, a one-stop, online education tool for campus-based and online degree programs, can help potential students compare and choose the right school.

Akonix Systems, Inc. announced last week that the predominant IM concerns for companies in 2007 will include risk management, compliance and e-discovery. During 2006, the Akonix IM Security Center identified 15 percent more threats than in 2005 for a total of 406 attacks on IM networks.

Continue at PRWEB

The war for the ‘4th’ screen

2007-01-09T11:21:00.001-05:00

For functions from e-mail and instant messaging to mobile MySpace and ESPN, computer users are increasingly turning to the "fourth screen" — the one on their cellphones — which is evolving to adopt more characteristics of the three previous generations of screens: movie, television and computer.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/08/yourmoney/mobile.php

Pissing off Skype

2007-01-09T11:19:00.000-05:00

Skype isn’t known for playing well with others. It is a wonderful service that I use every day, but it is one hell of a walled garden. We’re still waiting for a proper Skype hack to come along that gives us access beyond the Skype client software. But today, Charlie Paglee is announcing that they have hacked the Skype interface, and are putting their own “Skype In” and “Skype Out” functionality. The hack adds a button into Skype that adds TalQer VOIP functionality. Highlight a Skype contact, then click the button to call him or her via the TalkQer Voip service.

[TechCrunch]

Further eroding user confidence - Yahoo! Messenger

2006-12-19T11:30:00.000-05:00

COMMENT: I would have to agree with Brian White here in his oppinion of the Yahoo! Messenger client. I have moved away from all single client services and use Trillian for the most part. On occasion I have my dated MSN communicator running and G-Talk but I quickly moved away from Yahoo! when the obtrusive IMvironments started infultrating my IM screen, or the annoying sound blasts, or the "Wanna game" messages from friends...

I realize now that vulnerabilities are a reality and will be increasingly infultrate our IM world however, forcing a user to change settings, mail client favorites and addign tools that just aren't needed when the primary objective of IM is communications quickly with friends and business partners, not only moves away from the core practice of what IM is used for but is an easy way to push your user base away from your company all together.

Linksys, not Apple, introduces iPhone

2006-12-19T10:59:00.000-05:00

Adding to the large amount of rumours on the Internet about a possible Apple product called iPhone, Linksys has announced its own series of VoIP (voice over IP) products running under this brand.

The company says they have been launching iPhone products since 2004, albeit some of the products linked from their press information are actually older devices being branded as iPhone.

... Only the new iPhone Dual-Mode Internet Telephony Kit for Skype (CIT400, pictured) and the also new iPhone Wireless-G Phone for Skype (WIP320) have the iPhone ...

More at GeekZone

Also:
Linksys, which was chosen as the Vendor of the Year in this year's SmartHouse Best of the Best Awards, has stunned Mac fans by launching an iPhone instead of Apple.

IMS Forum Plugfest test plan and roadmap finalized

2006-12-18T14:18:00.000-05:00

January’s Plugfest (15th through the 19th of 2007) is the first in a series of IMS Forum Plugfests that will run through 2008. The events will establish industry-recognized certification for IMS products and services that have achieved the highest level of interoperability. IMS Plugfests are open to both IMS Forum members and non-members.

Applications and services to be tested include voice services, fix-mobile convergence, presence, instant messaging and hosted IP PBX operating across multiple networks such as Mobile, WiFi, Wireline and Cable broadband. The tests will also focus on building the reference IMS services test network for future IMS Plugfest events described in our roadmap. The roadmap’s overall objective is to provide an industry-wide validation process for IMS applications and services as applicable to the ‘Services and Applications Layer’ of the IMS architecture.

Continue at Business Wire Search