For all of you, who uses MSN Messenger, it is good to read the
following article.
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Study: Instant-messaging attacks rose in 2005By Tom Espiner, ZDNet
(UK)
Published on ZDNet News: January 10, 2006, 9:51 AM PT
Security attacks over instant-messaging networks became more
prevalent in 2005, according to a new study.
Microsoft's MSN network experienced the largest number of IM
security incidents in both 2004 and 2005, while year-on-year
incident growth rates were largest on America Online's AIM network,
according to the report, published Monday by IM security vendor
FaceTime Communications.
In 2005, MSN had a 57 percent share of the attacks, AOL had 37
percent and Yahoo had 6 percent, FaceTime said in its "Impact
report: Analysis of IM & P2P Threats in 2005."
While the incidence rate of attacks over IM is still low compared
with e-mail-borne attacks, the rate appears to be increasing
rapidly. There were 778 incidents recorded in the fourth quarter of
last year compared with 59 in the first quarter, according to the
report.
"IM threats are extremely challenging for corporate IT staff
because they utilize real-time communications channels and proven
social engineering techniques over worldwide IM networks to
propagate significantly faster than e-mail-based attacks," FaceTime
said in a statement.
Worms and rootkits were at the heart of the main incidents in 2005,
said Chris Boyd, security research manager at FaceTime who also
warned of the growing danger of cross-network attacks.
"Hacker groups are getting more sophisticated and are beginning to
attack across multiple networks. In 2004, AOL experienced the most
attacks. But in 2005 there were more crossovers from AOL to the MSN
network, as MSN became more popular with users," Boyd said.
"There's some really nasty stuff coming through the AOL network,
and it's AOL that's being used as a jump-off for other
networks."
FaceTime said that exploits can jump networks through IM
"consolidation" applications, such as Trillian or Gaim, which let
people combine contacts from multiple IM networks on one
list.
Boyd also warned that the hackers are working on new exploits.
"Hacker groups have large (compromised) server farms to experiment
with propagating exploits. They hide Trojans and viruses, and
control these botnets via IRC," he said.
MSN declined to comment specifically on the FaceTime statistics,
but agreed that the threat risk via IM networks was
increasing.
"Unfortunately, over the last year, the industry has seen viruses
and other online threats spread through IM systems, often via Web
site links," an MSN representative said. "We recommend that
customers do not click on attachments or links in IM without
confirming their validity with the person who sent them."
AOL had not commented on FaceTime's statistics at the time of
writing.
FaceTime claimed last November that one hacker group had taken
control of 17,000 PCs using an IM worm, and Boyd said this area was
still causing problems. "The main and nastiest infections come from
the Middle East. We've found a viper nest of hacker dens there," he
said. "We've found that lots of hardcore Middle Eastern hacker
groups have embraced IM as a launchpad for attacks."
The motivation for these attacks isn't financial, he claimed: "For
these gangs, financial gain is less important than making serious
political statements. They engage in Web page defacement, and some
claim the war as motivation," said Boyd. "The FBI is
involved--they've looked at the data we've collected and have used
it as a basis for investigation."
The FBI would not confirm or deny whether the data had been passed
to them. "We encourage individuals and organizations to come
forward to report any suspected crime, but provide confidentiality
for them," an FBI official said.
