IM security

Discussion in 'other security issues & news' started by yoelma, May 17, 2005.

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  1. yoelma

    yoelma Guest

    Hey, I was wondering if anyone is familiar with Instant Messaging Management or security. I heard that a lot of viruses and worms are attacking computers through IM software. How can one protect himself or his organization against these stuff?
     
  2. chaos16

    chaos16 Registered Member

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    by having a firewall and antivirus
     
  3. ~*Nat*~

    ~*Nat*~ Registered Member

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    And to not click on any links. Especially from someone you don't recognize.

    Not doing File-transfers.

    And to keep the most current versions.
    YAHOO! for example, just had a security-update a couple of weeks (or months ?) ago.


    :)
     
  4. ~*Nat*~

    ~*Nat*~ Registered Member

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  5. chaos16

    chaos16 Registered Member

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    IM secure from zonelabs is only on the security suite and IM secure indivdual
     
  6. ~*Nat*~

    ~*Nat*~ Registered Member

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    yoelma...I don't know of course how familar you are with Instant messengers.
    But each one has it's own little security/privacy protections.
    It's not too much...but some aren't bad either.

    Just look in the "preferences/options"...and disable all unnecessary things and enable everything that 'protects' you while online, etc......
     
  7. spy1

    spy1 Registered Member

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  8. Notok

    Notok Registered Member

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    There are various programs to protect different IM programs. Which one are you using?

    Qwik-Fix Pro can also go a long way, including specific protection for the AIM Away Protocol Buffer Overflow and LoadImage exploits. The IM specific firewalls are another good choice, as is something like DropMyRights (although this won't protect you against exploits that gain elevated privileges.) Simply turning off user icons in any client can stave off many attacks, however.

    What you would probably want to do is visit http://www.secunia.com/ and look up the IM client you wish to use. This will tell you what exploits are known, then you will know what you need to protect against from there.
     
  9. ~*Nat*~

    ~*Nat*~ Registered Member

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    Notok, I probably haven't had much sleep...or....?

    But could you explain to me please what you mean by this ?

    turning off "user icons" ?
    Do you mean the avatars you can use in YAHOO! for example ??

    Please enlighten me. :)
     
  10. Notok

    Notok Registered Member

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    Yes, exactly. One of the most common exploits ATM is the way these programs handle certian image types, which are used for those icons (avatars as we call them here on the forums.)
     
  11. ~*Nat*~

    ~*Nat*~ Registered Member

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    OH...wow....then I better get rid of mine ASAP ! :eek:

    Thank you sooo much !! I didn't know about this, until now.

    Just one more question if you don't mind.
    Where did you learn about this ?
    I usually keep track on IM-security. But obvisously not looking in the right spots.

    Thanks in advance, Notok ! :)
     
  12. ~*Nat*~

    ~*Nat*~ Registered Member

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    Uhm..never mind...lol.
    You mentioned Secunia.com.

    I'll look there.

    Too bad Yahoo! doesn't tell you all this......
     
  13. Notok

    Notok Registered Member

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    Keeping your own is no problem, it's mainly a matter of script kiddies and worms getting your client to display those images. Yahoo messenger is actually pretty safe, they've been pretty good about releasing updates for these things, but it's always a good idea to disable anything you don't use (same with any app.) This can also make it easier to enjoy the parts that you do use. :) The big thing is to keep up-to-date with your software, especially anything that is internet capable or handles files you download from the internet.
     
  14. ~*Nat*~

    ~*Nat*~ Registered Member

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    OK. Well...I thought those icons are kinda cute. But otherwise useless. Sooo....probably will disable anyways. Maybe ! :D

    And you're right. YAHOO! has been updating it's security.

    And I always keep up-to-date with my software. ;)

    Thanks for your replies !! :)
     
  15. Notok

    Notok Registered Member

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    Np, hopefully the original poster got something out of it too :)
     
  16. twig

    twig Guest

  17. yoelma

    yoelma Guest

    Thanks guys for your replies. I think I didnt clarify my question correctly but I meant to ask how to secure my network while people are still able to IM. I want to just block messages with certain keywords for examples, block file transfers which have weird filenames. I heard from someone about a program called IM Manager by IMlogic but im not very familiar with it. Anybody knows anything about it? because it actually sounds really what im looking for but the problem is that I have bad experiences with trying software I dont know. Thanks :)
     
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