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'Having an army of zombies is the economic equivalent of having an oil well,' said analyst Alan Paller of SANS Institute. IM-based attacks can be even more threatening because people receive false instant messages from a name on their buddy list rather than a strange e-mail address, DeSouza said.

IM attacks act much like e-mail worms and viruses, stealing information from the user's computer or turning that computer into a so-called zombie by tricking users into clicking on phony links or into opening malicious attachments. IMlogic sells products that protect against IM-based attacks, as do Akonix Systems and Trend Micro.

All these factors combine to create a serious risk.' 'These are mutating, high-velocity, and invisible to most companies until they hit. 'IM usage has reached critical mass, and virus writers have now recognized it as a mostly undefended medium,' said IMlogic Chief Executive Officer and cofounder Francis deSouza. The study-performed by the IMlogic Threat Center with the support of IT security companies Symantec, McAfee, and Sybari, as well as IM leaders America Online, Yahoo, and Microsoft-reported that 70 percent of IM-based attacks target public IM networks and 30 percent target enterprises. The number of IM attacks such as viruses, worms, and phishing scams has increased from 20 for all of 2004 to 571 in the second quarter of 2005 alone, representing an increased threat to both enterprise users and the average consumer, the study said.

A study released today by instant messaging security vendor IMlogic reported that hackers and virus writers are recognizing and exploiting the opportunities presented by IM-based attacks, the numbers of which have risen sharply over the last two quarters.

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