Malicious Mobile Code

Risk Assessment -- Medium

Instant Messaging’s ability to exploit peer-to-peer relationships and initiate transfer files between client workstations presents a significant risk to any computer environment. IM is inherently hard to manage and secure as settings are configured at each workstation and users are left to their own judgments. Most IM software does not contain tools to allow the enterprise-wide management of individual clients. In a corporate network, if you do not have a firewall blocking IM traffic, you should assume it is happening and opening up yet another hole for malicious mobile code. As IM grows in importance, it is sure to be maliciously hacked more and more.