How many of us can relate?
Many businesses are leaving themselves vulnerable to the emerging crop of IM-borne attacks because they aren't managing employee use of instant-messaging software, a new report finds.
A report released Wednesday by SurfControl contends that a sizeable number of U.S. businesses have yet to formulate or put into practice any official guidelines for dictating how workers may use IM on their networks. A recent survey conducted by the IT security company found that 90 percent of the 7,500-plus businesses it spoke with have established policies to manage the use of e-mail, but 49 percent have no official rules in place to govern IM and peer-to-peer software usage.
Companies that fail to address the issue are increasingly susceptible to attacks, as a new crop of threats delivered via IM has appeared over the last several months.