SANS Newsbites on IM Security

The following is a comment by editor Pescatore in the SANS NewsBites email:

[Editor's Note (Pescatore): There has definitely been an increase in attacks via links in IM messages. Users who will no longer click on a link in an email for fear of phishing are still clicking on links in IM messages - and usually clicking within seconds of receipt, as compared to email messages that may sit in the users in-box for quite some time. Enterprises who have made the decision to allow public IM services to be used by employees need to make sure that IM filtering services are put in place, and employees warned that IM screen names are just as insecure as email addresses.]