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News
posted 21 Feb 2005
The real-time risk of instant messaging
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While instant messaging (IM) is undoubtedly popular as a form of office-based communication, it is not without its flaws, and there is concern that security risks could overshadow the medium’s convenience and speed. More worryingly, a recent pan-european survey by Sybari Software found that although many companies are concerned about the effects of IM on their business, only a small number have measures in place to prevent its misuse.
From more than 340 IT managers who responded, in excess of 81 per cent saw real-time communication as a distinct advantage of IM, but 75 per cent were still worried about the implications it could have on security, in particular the distribution of viruses and worms. Sixty-eight per cent expressed concerns about information theft and loss of sensitive data that could have an extreme impact on the business, not only through deliberate conversation spying but by accidental, careless use of the systems. Despite this, however, only 13 per cent had an existing policy on staff use of IM within their current e-mail usage guides, while over 55 per cent said the issue was overlooked, and 28 per cent currently had no corporate messaging policy of any kind.
According to additional research by analysts at Gartner, IM will represent 50 per cent of all business to client communication by 2005. It is therefore imperative for enterprises to implement and manage systems with clear usage policies to prevent an excellent tool becoming a danger to company privacy.
