EDS bans IM. Big hammer, small nut [The Register]
The Register delights in running down EDS in this story. But how about this for some old-style thinking, from The Register itself?:
Gateway AV tools or managed services providers can be used to block infectious emails before they reach end users, but instant messages go directly to workstations – so skipping a layer of defence.
IM is convenient but it can create holes into an organisation. Instant messaging attacks have become a common method of propagation in recent viral outbreaks, and (as CERT warned back in March) a tool for social engineering, including tricking users into running malicious software (potentially DDoS attack tools) on their machines.
Neil Barrett, technical director of security consultancy firm IRM, said IM products are “implicitly clandestine” and make the exchange of files easier – something likely to be frowned on by security-conscious organisations.
The world has moved on, chaps. Live with it.
Think horizontal firewalls enclosing workgroups and co-operative teams, rather than vertical ones pulling up the drawbridge on the corporate monolith. Accept people need to co-operate inside and outside the corporation, and find new ways to work and to protect assets.
I seem to remember the Maginot Line wasn’t too successful.
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