FaceTime Releases Quarterly Report on IM, Chat and P2P Security Threats11 April 2006
FaceTime Communications, the leading provider of solutions for securing Greynets such as instant messaging (IM), peer-to-peer (P2P), and spyware, today released a quarterly report highlighting the trends and growth in security incidents and malware attacks over IM, chat and P2P services. The report details that threat incidents are up over the same quarter last year (Q1 2005), and an increasing proportion of threats propagate through multiple channels and P2P networks.
The Q1 2006 IMPact Report comes from FaceTime Security Labs, the threat research and response arm of FaceTime Communications. Key findings in the report include:
* With 453 incidents recorded in the period, the number of security
incidents was 723% percent higher in Q1 2006 compared to the same period
last year.
* The growth in threat incidents targeting public IM channels stabilized
during the quarter, but the complexity of incidents and use of multiple
delivery methods has increased.
* Multi-channel propagation was 23 times more common in Q1 2006 than the
same period last year.
* IRC and chat-based attacks continue to dominate, but their share of all
attacks dropped in favor of an increasing number of P2P attacks.
* P2P attacks were almost 15 times more common in Q1 2006 when compared
with one year earlier.
* The number of threats using P2P in the first quarter has already
surpassed the total number of P2P attacks in all of 2005.
"The number of threats across multiple P2P and IM channels demonstrates the need for a comprehensive approach to managing threats," said Tyler Wells, Research Director at FaceTime Communications. "As malware creators increasingly attack these mainstream applications, administrators should ensure they have the ability to control and manage them."
FaceTime categorizes IM, P2P and spyware programs as 'greynets.' Greynets are network-enabled applications that are installed on an end user's system without permission from IT and are highly evasive to existing security infrastructure. The Q1 2006 IMPact Report demonstrates that greynet applications pose a security risk, but their risk must be managed in concert with the business benefits of the applications.
Operating in three research centers around the world, experts at FaceTime Security Labs monitor the frequency and severity of risks posed by viruses, worms, spyware and other malware propagating through applications such as IM and P2P. FaceTime Security Labs experts publish the IMPact Index to allow security professionals to quickly and easily assess the aggregate "point-in-time" risk from these threats. Additionally, FaceTime Security Labs publishes the SG Index(TM) which rates the privacy and corporate risks associated with different types of spyware applications, using factors such as distribution methodologies, transmission protocols, pre- and post-installation behaviors and degree of stealth to determine individual threat levels for each application.
Protecting Against the Growth of Greynet Threats
FaceTime anticipates that both the frequency and complexity of greynet threats will continue to increase, with particular emphasis on multi-channel attacks targeting P2P and IM networks. The growth of Skype and other VoIP communications channels should be carefully monitored by IT departments and the appropriate steps taken to both manage and secure their adoption by individual users.
The Q1 2006 IMPact Report underscores the need for organizations to adopt comprehensive security measures specifically designed to protect IM, P2P, IRC and other greynet applications. IM threats are extremely challenging for corporate IT staff because they utilize real-time communications channels and proven social engineering techniques over worldwide IM networks to propagate significantly faster than email-based attacks. Many security products, which take hours or days to test and distribute patches, cannot keep up with the deluge and speed of IM threats. FaceTime provides solutions that utilize both traditional signatures and patent-pending challenge/response technologies that are automatically activated when behavioral attributes such as message frequency, content matching, and URL identification meet defined thresholds to detect malicious activity and stop infections before they occur.
To find the most current and up-to-date threat information, or to view a copy of the report, visit FaceTime Security Labs at http://www.facetime.com/securitylabs/securitylabs.aspx
About FaceTime Communications
Founded in 1998, FaceTime Communications is the leading provider of security solutions for the management and control of greynet applications such as adware/spyware, instant messaging, P2P file sharing, web conferencing and instant voice. FaceTime Security Labs delivers the industry's first IMPact Index, which assesses "point-in-time" risks posed by viruses, worms and other malware propagating through greynet applications. FaceTime's award-winning solutions are used by over 600 customers, among them eight of the ten largest U.S. financial institutions. FaceTime supports or has strategic partnerships with all leading public and private IM network providers, including AOL, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, IBM, Bloomberg, Jabber and Reuters. For more information, visit http://www.facetime.com.
FaceTime is headquartered in Foster City, California. For more information visit http://www.facetime.com or call 888-349-FACE.
Source: prnewswire
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