IM Security Threats Jump Dramatically

Instant messaging is increasingly becoming a target for spammers, phishers, and hackers according to a new report issued Tuesday by instant message security firm IMLogic. The report says that in the first quarter of this year alone, threats jumped an astounding 250 percent.

A little over eight of every ten reports received by the company had to do with viruses or worms, while 14 percent hijacked the file transfer capabilities and another 11 percent took advantage of client vulnerabilities.

"The trends identified in our report will continue as IM becomes the new target for more sophisticated attacks aimed at disrupting Internet security," IMlogic Chief Technology Officer Jon Sakoda said in a statement. The company suggests users check its IMLogic Threat Center for the latest on threats involving instant messaging.

The report found some 75 different unique threats were reported during the quarter, with some involving the compromising of personal information leading to indentity theft.

IMLogic said that the best method of defense is to ensure the latest versions of the instant messaging clients a customer uses are up-to-date, as well as being cautious as to what they download or click on especially if the identity of the sender is uknown to the user.

The company expects the amount of attacks will continue to increase as instant messaging becomes ever more part of peoples' daily routines, and pose new threats to the integrity of data across corportate networks.