Instant Messaging - Reducing The Risks

The internet has revolutionised the way in which we communicate with email replacing snail mail and the introduction of real-time Instant Messaging (IM).

The most popular and widely used IM services are MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, AOL AIM, and ICQ. Regardless of which of these you may use, they all provide an interface for one-to-one communication or group conversations.

These programs however have opened up a whole new area for spammers and hackers to target. Using IM you can obtain the latest weather reports, movie listing etc, but you are dealing with a ‘chat robot’, also known as a ‘bot’. Now the software behind this can in some instances fool you into believing that the responses are from a real person, especially the more sophisticated versions used by hackers.

These IM programs are free to use, but are also extremely vulnerable to exploitation. They allow you to transfer files quite freely, which may already be infected with a destructive virus, Trojan horses or worms, and to have unencrypted chat sessions, which to many hackers is an open door. Some IM clients also allow peer-to-peer file sharing which potentially means that other users have access to the hard discs of other users.

Protecting yourself is a simple combination of common sense, vigilance and a few essential security tools, such as a firewall and real time anti-virus program.

Because IM is real-time, malicious attacks spread very quickly and can do an enormous amount of damage in a very short period of time.

The default security settings in IM programs are very low to make it easier to use, but this also leaves you more open to attacks. There’s also a new breed of IM worms. To your friends it appears as though they’re receiving a message from you, but the truth is the message is generated by a worm, and may contain a link to a Web site that automatically downloads another bit of malicious code.

IM is a prime target for online scams, identity theft and other predatory behavior.

These tips will help to make IM more secure:

Use a strong password and change it frequently.

Regularly update your IM software, operating system and security programs.

Do NOT enter any personal information.

Do NOT open any attachments or click on any web links sent to you by an unknown person.

If you know the identity of the person who sent you a link, hover your cursor over it to check that it is a legitimate link.

Be very careful of if a person on your allowed list starts sending odd messages, best advice is to shut down your IM program immediately.

Spim is spam sent over IM containing offensive language or links to web sites which cam also trigger an avalanche of pop-up ads, Spyware and Trojans.

There are ways to limit this, but the settings that enable you to do this mean that anyone not on your ‘buddy’ list will be blocked. This is a good thing, it protects you.

MSN Messenger: Once you’re logged in, click on Tools then Options, and select Privacy. Check mark the ‘Only people on my Allow List can see my status and send me messages’ box. The Privacy tab also allows you to add or remove people on the Allow List, as well as allowing you to see which other MSN users have added you to their contact list.

Yahoo Messenger: Click the Login menu and select Preferences. Select Privacy in the left pane of the Yahoo Messenger Preferences window, and tick the ‘Ignore anyone who is not on my Friend list’. To prevent spim through Yahoo, choose the ‘Do not allow users to see me online and contact me’ in the ‘When people see my ID on Yahoo Web sites’ section.

AOL Instant Messenger: Click My AIM, Edit Options, Edit Preferences to open the preferences window. Select Privacy in the left pane, and then tick the ‘Allow only users on my buddy list’ option under the ‘Who Can Contact Me’.

ICQ: Click the Main button, select Security and Privacy Permissions. Click Communication Events in the left pane, and then fill in the radio buttons under either the yellow check mark icon (this will limit these actions to users on your contact list) or the red X icon (which will prevent anyone from sending you these things). Click Spam Control in the left pane, fill in all the check boxes in the right pane, and select ‘All users’ next to the item labeled ‘Do not accept Multi Recipient Messages from’.

About Encryption and Making Your System Secure

To What does encryption do for me?
Encryption and cryptographic software has been used in many different ways to make systems more secure.
This article discusses only a few ways that such software can make your system more secure, including:

1) Encrypting your email

2) Encrypting your files

Two programs are mentioned that will help encrypt information. There are many more programs out there that will help, but these programs are good and a good place to start as any. They have the added benefit of both being free with source code available.

Will encryption stop people from accessing my information?
Encryption simply makes it harder for people to gain access to important information, like passwords or sensitive information in a file. The first thing you should know about encryption is that the algorithm that is used to encrypt can be simple or more complex and that affects how securely what you have encrypted is protected. Encryption systems have been broken when the method of encryption is understood by hackers and is easy to break.

Why bother to encrypt my email?
It should be noted that email is far less secure than paper mail for two very good reasons: first, electronic data can be accessed easily over an Internet and secondly, electronic data is really simple to copy. There is a very good chance that someone has snooped around in your email despite your best intentions to stop it.

How do I go about encrypting my email?
There are many programs out there that can help you encrypt your email. A very popular one is PGP (Pretty GoodPrivacy) or its Gnu offshoot GPG.
PGP (http://www.pgpi.org/) self-describes itself this way: This "is a program that gives your electronic mail something that it otherwise doesn't have: Privacy. It does this by encrypting your mail so that nobody but the intended person can read it. When encrypted, the message looks like a meaningless jumble of random characters. PGP has proven itself quite capable of resisting even the most sophisticated forms of analysis aimed at reading the encrypted text."

Why bother to encrypt my files?
The answer to this boils down to what you store on your computer. If you have financial data with important information like social security numbers, email addresses, account numbers and passwords, then you open yourself up to losing very valuable information. Most corporate Internet security employees will attest to the widespread theft of very valuable information. As long as you are connected to the Internet you are vulnerable.

How do I go about encrypting my files?
AxCrypt File Encryption Software (http://axcrypt.sourceforge.net/) Self-described as "FreePersonal Privacy and Security for Windows 98/ME/NT/2K/XP with AES-128 File Encryption, Compression and transparent Decrypt and Open in the original application."