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Msn Messenger File transfer acapabilities Feedback
Greetings,
I am a student at NCSU. I am researching IM, specifically Msn for possible use in file transfer and sharing to integrate with another product that produces secure files. I am having problems getting good sources of info: here is what I have so far. Is it correct? How can I contact MS to ask them. Seems hard to get ahold of anybody. Thanks for all your help!
MSN Messenger Analysis
MSN Messenger is the most widely available IM due to it’s being bundled with Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP. MSN Messenger provides IM services including messaging, presence, file transfer and file sharing facilities. It uses Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) for instant messaging and MSNFTP for file transfer and sharing.
API Easy to Acquire
Microsoft APIs for Real-Time Communication RTC. XML Schema and files are used for configuration. These APIs focus on instant messaging and P2P connection establishment using SIP and security. There are no API documents available for file transfer or file sharing to the general public.
Easy to Understand
The exiting APIs are well documented, but it is not certain if there are formally published file transfer or file sharing APIs.
Tight Integration Capability
Tight integration is the ability to use the IM services from within Themis. Clicking on an icon or selecting a pull-down menu could achieve this. One implementation approach is executing the IM from within Themis by adding an Icon with a path to the IM executable. Another is using the API to directly access the file transfer, file sharing, and related security services. The latter approach is more resource intensive and may be more flexible then is required, dependent on the desire to integrate file sharing and access permissions at a low level of granularity.
File Transfer
Both MSN Messenger 5.0 and 6.0 provide file transfer using a proprietary form of FTP Client. In this case the owner of the file must send the file to the requestor. MSN Messenger 6.0 provides file sharing through FTP a proprietary form of FTP Server that provides for drag and drop. Folders can be viewed and copied with security based on access lists. MSN Messenger 5.0 can be augmented with a product called “MSN File Manager” to provide similar services. This product’s support is questionable. In the future, integration with Active Directory and Exchange 2000 IM services and Microsoft's real-time communications platform code-named Greenwich is planned.
Identity Authentication
Neither MSN Messenger file transfer nor file sharing use authentication. The Bit Defender product and Omnipod’s Professional Online Desk Top (POD) products provide
Configuration Flexibility
XML is used extensively for parameter setting. See API discussion for further details.
Issues
There are some issues with MSN Messenger, to include adequate security, traversing firewalls, Network Address Translation (NAT) interoperation, interoperability, and file transfer and file sharing APIs. Currently, IMs have been shown to be susceptible to attack. They were not originally designed with security in mind. Inadequate file sharing and social engineering attacks that transpire during messaging are commonplace. Although security integration was not expressed as a concern, without proper integration with some central security authority, each MSN Messenger application would need to maintain permissions for file sharing as a minimum to guard against system attacks. NAT provides expanded address space for IPv4 addresses with in a business. Because addresses are translated and firewalls block ports, special provisions are needed to use IM in the enterprise. There are products e.g., Omnipod’s Professional Online Desk Top (POD) and ENAT, which clam to solve these problems. This would require these products to be on each client that would take part in P2P interactions. MSN Messenger does not interoperate with other IMs. In fact, there is little interoperability among IMs in general, especially with respect to file transfer and file sharing. As previously mentioned, no formal documentation exists for file transfer or file sharing APIs.
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