Sp!ke
Administrator
Nope, not here. Too many security issues with them.
Nice idea tho...just a shame they are open to so much abuse.
Interestingly, we were monitoring network traffic here a few months back and found that 30% of our total traffic was generated by ICQ/Yahoo messanger/MSN messenger services...and a good deal of that traffic was just unnecessary broadcasting.
We now block those ports anyway.
Nice idea tho...just a shame they are open to so much abuse.
Interestingly, we were monitoring network traffic here a few months back and found that 30% of our total traffic was generated by ICQ/Yahoo messanger/MSN messenger services...and a good deal of that traffic was just unnecessary broadcasting.
We now block those ports anyway.
paulrstaylor
Active Member
I use MSN at home.
What sort of abuse are you talking about? Corporate abuse I can understand, but in terms of security so long as you are fairly inteligent I dont see any issue.
I know whay you mean, traffic with no easily percivable use, ie a waste of your internet upstream bandwidth. This can usualy be tuned in the client tho if it causes a problem.
What sort of abuse are you talking about? Corporate abuse I can understand, but in terms of security so long as you are fairly inteligent I dont see any issue.
I know whay you mean, traffic with no easily percivable use, ie a waste of your internet upstream bandwidth. This can usualy be tuned in the client tho if it causes a problem.
V12
MB Enthusiast
use MSN at home...
As above, i have blocked all at work.
If anyone wants my MSN address, drop me a PM.
As above, i have blocked all at work.
If anyone wants my MSN address, drop me a PM.
Sp!ke
Administrator
Have a look at the links below...believe me, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
http://free.hostdepartment.com/yaggy/icq_tools.htm
or a recent MSN one....
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/24004.html
There are a vast array of ready made tools out there for all of these instant messenger programs - trust me, some of this stuff is very sophisticated indeed! Just spend a little time digging around in the digital underworld and you will probably come away wondering if you should wait till this evening to uninstall the software or go home early and do it now.
http://free.hostdepartment.com/yaggy/icq_tools.htm
or a recent MSN one....
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/24004.html
There are a vast array of ready made tools out there for all of these instant messenger programs - trust me, some of this stuff is very sophisticated indeed! Just spend a little time digging around in the digital underworld and you will probably come away wondering if you should wait till this evening to uninstall the software or go home early and do it now.
paulrstaylor
Active Member
All software has bugs, some of which can be exploited in some way by a third party. This is a fact of life.
I could walk into the path of a passing car. This is a fact of life.
Both are risks which I face every day, and survive!
I am not a big fan of open souce / "free" software for anything other than very specific servers/services, and even then I have to judge every case on its merits.
I used to use ICQ, but got sick of someone removing a copy of the user database and selling it to (what were usually poor quality, or imoral) porn sites. I stoped using it, well aware of the issues there.
The MSN bug or exploit you refered to, is not actualy a messenger bug, but a bit of sloppy code in the IE framework.....no great surprises there!!! Every time i fire up a browser, or outlook, or most MS apps I would potentialy be opening my self up to attack, even in posting this!
But guess what, ran the sample script, and it did not work on my system. :bannana:
Why? - because I keep on top of my patches using (amongst other things) that old chestnut Activeupdate.
Microsoft come under fire more than most software vendors beacuse of there marked presence, especialy in the desktop environment.
As a result, does that make me a high risk user here at home? No!!! There is enough fodder of poorley configured systems out there to mean that I can feel quite safe sitting in my own home using my laptop over a wireless network meaning anyone with an ounce of knowledge sat within say 50M of my house can decrypt every packet sent over my network !!! (lets not even get into the insecuritys in WEP etc!)
Microsoft being so big make easy targets for the press, and as such are getting there act together in terms of patching and security. Keep on top of it and your system may be vunerable for a day, week or maybe a month after the vunerability is discovered. Maybe you will be affected, restore a backup and get on with your life!
Chances are tho that as the script kiddies will not know much about the vunerability until it is patched, and there will be no GUI fronted tools for them to use anyway, there will be very little activity related to this vunerability in this time. There is always a small chance that you will be one of the unlucky, out of the billions of computers out there you will get RANDOMLY targeted......
Nobody wants your CV, or you letters to your pen friend..... they want to use your resources, ie you PC, bandwidth or often you credit/bank details.
PGP encrypt everything that is slightly sensitive (including the pictures you took of your girlfriend on your digicam ) and take regular backups.
What have you got to loose???
I could walk into the path of a passing car. This is a fact of life.
Both are risks which I face every day, and survive!
I am not a big fan of open souce / "free" software for anything other than very specific servers/services, and even then I have to judge every case on its merits.
I used to use ICQ, but got sick of someone removing a copy of the user database and selling it to (what were usually poor quality, or imoral) porn sites. I stoped using it, well aware of the issues there.
The MSN bug or exploit you refered to, is not actualy a messenger bug, but a bit of sloppy code in the IE framework.....no great surprises there!!! Every time i fire up a browser, or outlook, or most MS apps I would potentialy be opening my self up to attack, even in posting this!
But guess what, ran the sample script, and it did not work on my system. :bannana:
Why? - because I keep on top of my patches using (amongst other things) that old chestnut Activeupdate.
Microsoft come under fire more than most software vendors beacuse of there marked presence, especialy in the desktop environment.
As a result, does that make me a high risk user here at home? No!!! There is enough fodder of poorley configured systems out there to mean that I can feel quite safe sitting in my own home using my laptop over a wireless network meaning anyone with an ounce of knowledge sat within say 50M of my house can decrypt every packet sent over my network !!! (lets not even get into the insecuritys in WEP etc!)
Microsoft being so big make easy targets for the press, and as such are getting there act together in terms of patching and security. Keep on top of it and your system may be vunerable for a day, week or maybe a month after the vunerability is discovered. Maybe you will be affected, restore a backup and get on with your life!
Chances are tho that as the script kiddies will not know much about the vunerability until it is patched, and there will be no GUI fronted tools for them to use anyway, there will be very little activity related to this vunerability in this time. There is always a small chance that you will be one of the unlucky, out of the billions of computers out there you will get RANDOMLY targeted......
Nobody wants your CV, or you letters to your pen friend..... they want to use your resources, ie you PC, bandwidth or often you credit/bank details.
PGP encrypt everything that is slightly sensitive (including the pictures you took of your girlfriend on your digicam
) and take regular backups. What have you got to loose???
paulrstaylor
Active Member
Not meaning to rant, sorry if i went on a bit there!
GrahamC230K
MB Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2002
- Messages
- 9,755
- Car
- Audi A3 & S4 quattro
Please email me if you want my MSN Messenger ID.
V12
MB Enthusiast
Graham, no-one can e-mail you directly from the board, it has been disabled im afraid.
or was that your intention...
or was that your intention...
GrahamC230K
MB Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2002
- Messages
- 9,755
- Car
- Audi A3 & S4 quattro
Damn administrators!
Why has this been done?
PM me your email then so I can verify you! LOL
SC1 (security cleared) status would assist.
Why has this been done?
PM me your email then so I can verify you! LOL
SC1 (security cleared) status would assist.
V12
MB Enthusiast
I know, they're a pain in the bottom 
Maff
MB Enthusiast
I've now installed MSN.... seems quite good.
If anyone wants my MSN e-mail addresses, PM me and i'll give it to you
If anyone wants my MSN e-mail addresses, PM me and i'll give it to you
V12
MB Enthusiast
Just so the guys with exsisting e-mail accounts know.
You can set MSN messenger up to work with any e-mail address not just a hotmial or msn one.
Saves you having multiple accounts etc.
You can set MSN messenger up to work with any e-mail address not just a hotmial or msn one.
Saves you having multiple accounts etc.
GrahamC230K
MB Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2002
- Messages
- 9,755
- Car
- Audi A3 & S4 quattro
Originally posted by V12
Just so the guys with exsisting e-mail accounts know.
You can set MSN messenger up to work with any e-mail address not just a hotmial or msn one.
Saves you having multiple accounts etc.
Can you?
I think only certain email adys are qualified for Microsoft passports.
Sp!ke
Administrator
I don't need an instant messanger account.
I got a Blackberry ....always on email ANYWHERE!
I got a Blackberry ....always on email ANYWHERE!
V12
MB Enthusiast
Any account can be used to register with a passport.:bannana:
