Chat threats on the rise
Web 2.0
14 January 2008
Chat platforms are coming under attack from cyber threats carrying viruses and malware, new research has claimed.
Instant messaging (IM), Peer-to-Peer (P2P) messaging and chat vectors came under attack from more than 1,000 unique threats in 2007.
Researchers from Facetime, who conducted the study, found nearly half of IM threats were reported on MSN Messenger and 20 per cent on both the AOL Instant Messenger Network and the Yahoo Instant Messenger services.
"Threats over IM and P2P networks are occurring at an average of just over five unique incidents per day," said Frank Cabri, vice president of marketing and product management.
"Additionally, social networking sites are increasing in popularity resulting in a corresponding increase in malicious activity targeted at users of these sites."
The company has warned social network users that they will remain a target as long as the site continues to offer its users the same level of profile customisation.
Email is seen as too slow for some dedicated Facebook users who have rejected it in favour of the social networks' messaging tools.
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