Akonix: IM attacks dip in November

The number of new instant messenger (IM) attacks tracked by Akonix Systems in November dipped to 41, one month after eclipsing a record.

The San Diego-based IM security firm monitored 88 attacks in October, which broke the previous record of 64 a month before.

The November attacks - worms identified as SOHANAD, Geezo, Mandei, NotYou, Tellsky and Popwin - brought this year's total to 369, or a little more than one new attack per day, the firm reported in a news release today.

The drop mirrors 2005 statistics, Don Montgomery, Akonix vice president of marketing, told SCMagazine.com today.

"The exact same thing happened last year," he said. "There was a big dip in the summer, then a big run-up in August, September and October, then a dip again. We kind of toyed with the idea that even the hackers were taking summer vacation."

Similarly, the number of attacks on peer-to-peer file-sharing services, such as Kazaa and eDonkey, dropped from 34 to 18, a decrease of 47 percent one month after rising 62 percent.

Despite the slowdown in attacks, enterprises are urged to deploy security measures.

"Anything more than one is still a threat and something IT departments should take seriously," said Montgomery.

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