MSN Messenger is the most targeted IM platform

[detn8r]

ScanSafe, in its latest monthly Global Threat Report, reported it blocked 24 new IM threats in February, 54 percent of which affected MSN Messenger compared to 21 percent that affected Yahoo! and 17 percent that affected AOL Instant Messenger (AIM).

Over the past 12 months, MSN Messenger has consistently ranked #1 as the most targeted IM platform. Fifty-three percent of all the IM-based threats blocked by ScanSafe in the past year have affected MSN, compared to 41 percent that affected AIM and 29 percent that affected Yahoo!.

In addition, of the Web traffic the company scanned in February, 49 percent was non-productive including requests for gambling, music, porn and Webmail sites. Overall, Web filtering blocks were up 8 percent compared to January. Specifically, the company reported that:
* 14 percent of blocks were for advertising and promotion
* 12 percent of blocks were to online chat and Instant Messaging (IM) sites
* 10 percent of blocks were for Webmail
* Music, gambling and pornographic sites each accounted for 4 percent of blocks
* Blocks to gambling sites were up 22 percent over January

“Beyond the negative impact on productivity, uncontrolled use of the Web can have serious and costly consequences for businesses of all sizes including exposure to legal liability, disclosure of confidential information, breaches of compliance requirements and unnecessary bandwidth consumption,” said Dan Nadir, vice president, product strategy, ScanSafe.

Nadir added that events such as Valentine’s Day, the Super Bowl, the FIFA World Cup and the Grand National tend to drive unproductive Web traffic in the work place. Prior to the opening weekend of the FIFA World Cup, ScanSafe reported an average 147 percent increase in visits to World Cup-related sites.

The company also reported a marginal decline in malware in February. Web viruses remained virtually unchanged in February after increasing 27 percent in January. Spyware and adware blocks decreased 2 percent in February compared to a 26 percent increase the previous month.

“Historically, we see a jump in Web malware in January followed by a slight drop in February,” Nadir said. “Attackers know that malware may have a better chance of being propagated following the New Year when many users are returning from the holiday and haven’t patched their PCs. This seasonality usually corrects itself and we tend to see a steady increase in malware, particularly spyware, as the year progresses.”

Source: Security Pack

[detn8r]

The article is dated a month ago, but I thought it was an interesting article, none-the-less.