Press Release
FaceTime Protects Customers Against New AIM-Based Instant Messaging SPIM Attack Threatening Desktop, Network and Information Security
FOSTER CITY, Calif. - August 23, 2004 - FaceTime Communications, the leading provider of solutions that secure, manage, and extend instant messaging (IM) and peer-to-peer (P2P) applications, today warned of a new Download.Ject-style worm that is spreading via the AIM and ICQ IM networks. The worm, not yet named, targets AIM and ICQ users with messages that invite them to visit a personal homepage. Users who click on the link are routed to a Web site that installs to the desktop a program that bombards the user with pop-ups advertising adult entertainment. Recipients are easily duped into clicking the link, because the messages appear to have been sent by trusted contacts.
Two months ago FaceTime warned against the "Osama Found" adware campaign, which similarly hijacks user buddy lists to infect users, as well as the Bizex worm attacks, which also used IM as a delivery mechanism (http://www.facetime.com/pr/pr040406.aspx). The company reports this is a growing problem and re-emphasizes that SPIM is highly effective in compromising network security as well as the information security of both enterprises and users.
"These malicious attacks leverage IM and SPIM to dupe users into exposing their desktops to intrusion," said FaceTime CTO and VP of Products Jonathan Christensen. "Not only do these attacks threaten network security, they have the potential to compromise sensitive corporate and user data. FaceTime continues its work with the public IM networks as part of their collaborative effort to halt the proliferation of SPIM."
FaceTime IMAuditor™ is the only solution that controls these and other forms of SPIM through the combination of sophisticated content filtering capabilities and a patent-pending challenge-response mechanism. Both features work to intercept SPIM before it reaches the desktop without compromising legitimate messages or slowing down the sending and receiving of messages.
FaceTime customers with IMAuditor 5.0 installed are protected from this SPIM attack in two ways:
- If the SPIM attacker's identity is not on the target's buddy list, FaceTime's patent pending challenge/response anti-SPIM technology will stop the initial message.
- If the SPIM is proliferated through the target's IM buddy list, FaceTime customers can leverage
IMAuditor's content filtering and scanning technology to block the URL script or common phrase. FaceTime customers and prospects should contact their sales representative or systems engineer for further information.
About FaceTime Communications
FaceTime Communications enables the safe and productive use of instant
messaging, Web usage and Unified Communications platforms. Ranked number one by
IDC for four consecutive years, FaceTime's award-winning solutions are used by
more than 900 customers – including nine of the 10 largest U.S. banks – for
security, management and compliance of real-time communications. FaceTime
supports or has strategic partnerships with all leading public and enterprise
IM network providers, including AOL, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Skype, IBM and Jabber.
FaceTime is headquartered in Belmont, California. For more information visit
http://www.facetime.com or call 888-349-FACE.
The FaceForward blog, at http://blog.facetime.com,
offers thoughts and opinions about the changing nature of Internet communications.
PR Contact:
Emily Chamberlin
650-762-2945
echamberlin@ar-edelman.com
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