Flood of worms breaks on IM shore

By

Instant messaging (IM) worms are on the rise and here to stay, according to a new report.

The report, published by secure messaging company Imlogic, highlights a 30 per cent monthly increase in IM viruses and worms since the start of 2005.


"IM viruses and worms are growing exponentially," said Jon Sakoda, CTO at Imlogic. "Virus writers are now shifting the focus of their attack to instant messaging, which is seen as a largely unprotected channel into the enterprise."

In the last 30 days alone Imlogic has released 12 priority alert threat reports, significantly up on previous figures.

The stats were compiled at Imlogic's Threat Center, a joint IM monitoring operation with firms including Symantec, Microsoft and Yahoo. Around 81 per cent of incidents reported to the center involved worms or viruses with around ten per cent of those hijacking IM transfer capability.

The most frequently reported worms were Kelvir, Bropia, and Bizex.

Earlier this month SC reported the surge in IM worms creating a criminal turf war.

www.imlogic.com

Got a news tip for our journalists? Share it with us anonymously here.
Copyright © SC Magazine, US edition
Tags:

Most Read Articles

India's alarm over Chinese spying rocks CCTV makers

India's alarm over Chinese spying rocks CCTV makers

Hackers abuse modified Salesforce app to steal data, extort companies

Hackers abuse modified Salesforce app to steal data, extort companies

Cyber companies hope to untangle weird hacker codenames

Cyber companies hope to untangle weird hacker codenames

Victoria's Secret pulls down website amid security incident

Victoria's Secret pulls down website amid security incident

Log In

  |  Forgot your password?