Akonix: 80% Increase in Harmful IM Activity

SAN DIEGO -- Akonix Systems, Inc., provider of the most deployed instant messaging (IM) security and compliance products in the world, today announced its IM Security Center researchers tracked 36 malicious code attacks over IM networks during the month of June, an 80% increase over May. This brings the total number of threats for the first half of 2007 to 206, which is 79% more than the same time period last year.

New IM worms identified include Checkout, Impard, MSNHideOptions, Mubla and VB-DVQ. Vanebot was the most common with four variants, followed by QQPass with three. There were also seven attacks this month on P2P networks, such as Kazaa and eDonkey.

During June, Akonix security analysts issued six new policy updates to protect customers against new malware, using the industry's only dynamic IM malware, spim and protocol update system. Akonix Security Update Services automatically push updates to customers to block spyware, worms and viruses. Akonix customers were secure on day zero from each new threat with the in-depth protection and containment features of Akonix's 360° Security for Real-Time Communications(tm).

"We continue to see businesses placing a high priority on email security but not on IM security. Earlier this year, nearly all of the respondents to an Enterprise Strategy Group survey could name their email security provider, while almost half could not name their primary vendor for IM. In addition, nearly 30% did not have an IM security solution in place(1)," said Don Montgomery, VP of marketing at Akonix. "IM is increasingly becoming a standard medium for internal and external business communications, and demands the same level of day-to-day risk management and policy enforcement as email."

Akonix Systems Inc.