ABSTRACT
Instant messaging (IM) has moved from home to office, from a toy to an enterprise application. It has become part of our social infrastructure and will become part of our economic infrastructure. Like most technology, it has many uses-some good, some bad. It has both fundamental and implementation-induced issues. This chapter describes IM and gives examples of its implementation. It describes operation and examines some sample uses. It identifies typical threats and vulnerabilities, and examines the security issues that IM raises. It identifies typical security requirements and the controls available to meet them. Finally, it makes security recommendations for users, operators, enterprises, and parents.
