RE: How important is IM? was RE: How important is the PSTN

["Daniel Golding" <dgolding () sockeye com>]

Christopher,

There are three questions here - are IM programs a security risk, is number
one. The second is, how does IM come into the network support/communications
equation. The third is, how much time gets wasted using IM or IRC?

Peer to peer file sharing probably has no place in the business world. It's
a leisure thing, and can open you up to liability. On the other hand, who
wants to be the software police, more than is absolutely necessary?

As far as IM and IRC - many folks find them vital to running and
troubleshooting networks, communicating with customers, etc.  They can be
timewasters, but no more so than abuse of the telephone can be. It's not so
much the tool, as the use of the tool that should be a matter of concern.

IRC servers are significant security concerns. IRC Clients, coming from
behind firewalls, less so. Some folks implement private IRC servers bound to
localhost, behind firewalls, for internal use. This is much more secure. IM
tends to be insecure, as it's in cleartext, although encryption extensions
exist. Of course, most of your email is probably cleartext, too. A bigger
concern is that the servers live on someone else's network, so an outage
there may effect your operations.

- Daniel Golding

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-nanog () merit edu [mailto:owner-nanog () merit edu]On Behalf Of
> Christopher J. Wolff
> Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2002 3:17 PM
> To: nanog () merit edu
> Subject: How important is IM? was RE: How important is the PSTN
>
>
>
> Jane,
>
> This brings up a good point about IM.  IMHO, IM is a security
> risk and I am
> establishing a company standard where users behind the firewall are
> prohibited from using IM, IRC, and peer-to-peer file sharing programs.  My
> opinion is that these types of programs contribute more to lack of
> productivity than to real problem solving.
>
> So my question for the group is, do chat programs (IM, IRC, yahoo) serve a
> substantial network support purpose or are they more of a distraction,
> allowing staff to communicate with friends, relatives, drifters,
> interlopers
> on company time?
>
> Regards,
> Christopher J. Wolff, VP CIO
> Broadband Laboratories
> http://www.bblabs.com
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-nanog () merit edu [mailto:owner-nanog () merit edu]On Behalf Of
> Pawlukiewicz Jane
> Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2002 12:06 PM
> To: nanog () merit edu
> Subject: How important is the PSTN
>
>
> Hi all,
>
> Thanks so much for all the great answers. (Could everyone please stop
> telling me that im = instant messaging). I knew I should've never gotten
> out of bed this morning.
>
> Anyway, 75% of the respondents said the phone is critical. 25% said some
> form of IM is critical.
>
> Just in case anyone was curious.
>
> Is it me or is it very quiet in here today?
>
> Jane