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Current stats on messaging problems serve as a wake-up call to IT managers

P2P nets continue to be found on corporate nets, plus other survey findings

Unified Communications Alert By Michael Osterman , Network World , 05/02/2006

Unified messaging and communications analysis by consultant Michael Osterman.

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Reconnex and IronPort have both issued some interesting statistics on the state of messaging and network security. Here are some highlights of their findings:

* Reconnex, in its fifth Insider Threat Index for the first quarter of 2006, found that peer-to-peer file sharing protocols were present in 78% of the organizations it analyzed, up from 35% in 2005. It also found that remote access protocols that can create an SSL tunnel into a corporate network were present in 66% of the organization surveyed, and that unauthorized VoIP protocols were found in 22% of organizations. Reconnex analyzed more than 1.1 terabytes of customer data in its analysis.

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* IronPort issued a study that discussed threats in e-mail that said that bounce messages constitute 11% of all threatening e-mail, which includes virus-laden e-mail, spam and phishing attempts. Further, more than one-half of Fortune 500 companies have experienced at least one mail service delay or outage as a result of misdirected bounces that targeted their networks.

* IronPort issued another study that showed the growing penetration of e-mail authentication. The study found that 35% of all e-mail sent over the Internet is now authenticated using the SenderID Framework and that 9% is authenticated using DomainKeys. Further, three-quarters of Fortune 100 companies use SenderID when sending marketing-related e-mail, while just under one-half use DomainKeys.

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These reports provide good examples of the major threats that organizations still face in the context of messaging and network management and the advances that are being made in addressing issues focused on cleaning up e-mail. However, the Reconnex data, in particular, should serve as a wake-up call to many administrators and IT managers that they need to address the quite serious issues surrounding the growth of peer-to-peer and other threats. There are a variety of tools currently available from several vendors that can address these issues by sniffing out unauthorized traffic and then blocking or otherwise managing the traffic so as to minimize or eliminate these threats.

Michael Osterman is principal analyst of Osterman Research.