Does a secure IM exist?

What I am worried about is if I have Trillian or some other IM running can "hackers" get in and cause problems? I have a router with firewall, I have a software firewall, but the fact that the IM client is sitting there open worries me. If I use one I set it up where no one can see me but those on my list, but I have heard of people having problems with "ahckers" coming in through the IM client. Just wondering.

Thanks,
HelpFromFrance

 

ronjor,

Thanks for the info, I am not sure if I want to use one for the little I would get from it. I used Triallian for a while and what I really liked best about it was not IM, but that I had 2 plugins that were great, one showed the weather in any city in the world and the other world time zones. since I have to deal with both of those situations, I loved them but became concerned about the security of IM and dumped them, oh well

Thanks again & have a good day,
HelpFromFrance

 

Are you aware of this security App which could help.

IMsecure + IMsecure Pro

Keep IM conversations private
Protect vulnerable IM connections
IMsecure is free for individual and not-for-profit charitable entity use (excluding governmental entities and educational institutions).

http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/catalog/products/sku_list_ims.jsp


StevieO

 

StevieO,

Thanks for the info, but I am not really worried about the messages, I never write anything important anyway . I am more worried about the IM client leaving an open access to my computer while it it running. Since my computer is running all the time and hooked up to Internet all the time, I am concerned more about that.

Again thanks for the info,
HelpFromFrance

 

could you not change your preferences so that msn will not start unless you manually start it. then when you close msn messenger it will close completely and the connection closed. ( i use windows messenger this way and it works for me)

 

solarpowered candle,

Thanks for the suggestion, but my problem is that I am in one time zone and those that I "chat" with are in a time zone 7 hours behind me and I cannot know at what times they will come online, so more or less if I use it I need to leave it running. I will think about your idea and possible ways to implement it.

Have a great day,
HelpFromFrance

P.S. I know I am being difficult and that I want my cake and eat it too.

 

Have you had a look at Cryptosuite, it has a secure "chat" component

It isn't tied to a particular port and not many people will be able to connect because they won't have the client or the password, so from that point of view it is more secure than most by virtue of being secure and obscure

It might be worth having a look at it, the forum is here at Wilders

Regards

 

gottadoit,

Thanks I will take a look at that. I do appreciate you taking the time to help.

Have a good day,
HelpFromFrance