Email security specialist CipherTrust has moved into instant messaging (IM) with the release of a gateway IM security system.
The launch follows a report released by analyst firm IDC that says there are now 28 million users of corporate IM systems.
IronIM, which uses the same IronMail operating system as CipherTrust's email security systems, can protect organisations against inbound threats such as spam, viruses and denial-of-service attacks, as well as outbound problems such as the transmission of inappropriate content.
"[The new tool] was a natural fit for us," said Dmitri Alperovitch, the company's research engineer. "It supports all the major protocols including Yahoo Messenger and Google Talk and the learning curve will be minimal for [security administrators]," he added.
IronIM offers an easy-to-use interface to help administrators set and enforce policies, as well as search and archiving features, according to Alperovitch. The ability to search for keywords is important for compliance purposes and will be particularly useful for IM conversations, which are generally much longer than emails, Alperovitch added. Security systems for IM are becoming essential at some firms as their use of messaging grows.
According to IDC, almost one billion messages a day are sent among users of corporate IM systems. David Stanley, UK managing director of CipherTrust, said most companies know their staff use instant messaging but are unsure how many do so. They are also aware of the threats posed by unsecured messages leaving the corporate environment, he added.
Meanwhile, IM security specialist FaceTime announced its new Zero Day Defence System in October, which helps firms to proactively deal with threats. It supports all the major public and corporate IM applications, said the company.