6

WHITEPAPER

THE ANATOMY OF IM THREATS

" IM worms mutate frequently and are increasing

 in sophistication such that the infected message

 is injected into a current conversation between

 the infected user and a target on their contact list.

" IM worms spread rapidly and in many cases can

 compromise and enterprise network in less than

 20 minutes.

" IM worms capitalize on social engineering

 techniques to turn even technology savvy end

 users into victims.

POSTINI PROVIDES A MANAGED SERVICE

SOLUTION TO COMBAT IM THREATS

As the first enterprise class IM managed service,

Postini enables enterprises to manage the challenge

of IM threats by outsourcing IM security and

management using the same type of managed

service that Postini customers rely on to secure

their email systems and ensure that usage is

consistent with corporate guidelines.

Postini Perimeter Manager for IM acts to stop

the threats such as IM worms before they can ever

enter the enterprise network via the major public

IM networks. The service blocks infected or spoofed

IM messages so targeted users never see them so

can not unknowingly activate a worm by clicking

on a malicious URL. It also provides the tools to

control and manage content policies to block any

attachments to IM s, block any unacceptable topics

from being discussed and prevent the loss of valued

files and intellectual property.

Postini Perimeter Manager for IM gives you the

confidence to enable IM as a business productivity

tool for your organization by giving you the ability to

manage and control:

" Threat Prevention

Postini ensures that IM worms and other threats

are effectively blocked from the recipient.

" Content Management

Enterprises gain the capability to block file

transfers, as well as inappropriate content, from

being transmitted via IM in order to mitigate the

loss of intellectual property and legal liabilities.

Public IM Networks

(Yahoo, AOL, MSN, Google)

Outbound

Customer IM User

(Protected)

Inbound

POSTINI PERIMETER MANAGER FOR IM

Local DNS

Archive/Log

Perimeter Manager

for IM

Block

Figure 7: Postini Perimeter Manager for IM sits between the enterprise DNS server and public IM carriers to protect the network 

and users from IM threats such as IM worms.