Yahoo Messenger Target of Effective Phishing Scam
Two Internet Worms Target MSN Instant Messenger Users
Trillian Vulnerability – Security Flaw Found in Trillian IM Client

Old Aunty Spam has a trio of reports on IM http://www.aunty-spam.com/yahoo-messenger-target-of-effective-phishing-scam/ phishing, http://www.aunty-spam.com/two-internet-worms-target-msn-instant-messenger-users/ worm attacks, and http://www.aunty-spam.com/trillian-vulnerability-security-flaw-found-in-trillian-im-client/ security flaws making recent news.

The old common sense rules apply here – each of these require user interaction to be activated. Messages require that you accept and run a download, visit a website, or “????omg click this!”. Puh-lease. We’re all far too wise to fall for that, right?

Yeah. Well, don’t say you weren’t warned.

Said a Yahoo spokesperson, “Hackers have become very devious in their methods to obtain personal information. In this case, the hacker was able to trick the user into providing personal information by disguising their identity to make it appear that the message was coming from a trusted source.”

It was also announced this month that there are worms travelling the Internet which specifically are targetting MSN Messenger.

But if this has you thinking that perhaps you should switch to one of the 3rd-party instant messaging clients as a security measure, look before you leap. It was also announced this week that a security flaw in Trillian has been discovered which allows hackers access to the Trillian user’s computer.