IM Instant Messaging Security : 9781555583385

Securing Instant Messaging (IM) is one of the top three priorities for IT managers to consider in the next 12 months. If IM security problems have been keeping you up at night . . . they should! According to research firm IDC, corporate IM users will jump from nearly 50 million in 2003 to over 181 million by 2005.

If your company is like many others, contributing to that exponential growth in IM usage, it likely means that the potential for major security breaches in your organization is very high. By their very nature, popular IM services can introduce major security vulnerabilities to the organization. Once used simply to send short notes out among computer experts at MIT and other institutions of higher learning, IM is now a widespread, efficient medium for everyday business users to collaborate, organize strategy meetings, and share internal files and information. According to the analyst firm Yankee Group, IM will continue to grow at an explosive rate of 150 percent per year between 2003 and 2005.