Akonix Security Center Publishes IM Threat Watch for January 2006

Akonix Systems, the premier provider of instant messaging (IM) security solutions, today announced its Security Center team tracked 18 attacks against IM networks in January. This is a 500% increase from last January's assessment, however, attacks have decreased by 45% from December 2005. The Akonix Security Center also found 22 new threats on peer-to-peer (P2P) networks in January.

January kicked off the year with a high-threat level Zero-day WMF file vulnerability, which was eventually sent over unmanaged IM networks by hackers looking to infect additional PCs. These types of attacks have the potential to cause widespread damage to corporate networks. New worms identified in January include YMob, Tilebot, Nabload, Loxvot, Breplibot and Hazif. The most common attack was the Tilebot virus, which had three variants.

Overall, Akonix security analysts issued a total of 10 new security policy updates, using the industry's only dynamic IM malware, SPIM and protocol update system. This automatically pushes updates to customers and blocks worms and viruses in real-time at the network perimeter.

"It's apparent that since the start of last year, IM security has made its way to the top of global executives' priority lists, and the 500% increase in attacks year-on-year explains why," said Don Montgomery, vice president of marketing at Akonix Systems. "If IM-based worms follow the same growth trend as last year, we are potentially looking at thousands of viruses and other malicious content striking IM networks in 2006. It's critical that businesses - large and small - protect and manage their employees' real-time communications use, otherwise they risk a costly and damaging attack."

The Akonix Security Center is a collaborative effort between Akonix's internal security group, enterprise customer security teams and industry leading partners in IM infrastructure and security. It focuses on the emerging security threats posed by IM and P2P applications in the corporate environment. Detailed information about the January 2006 IM Threat Report can be found at www.imsecuritycenter.com.

For more information on how Akonix solutions ensure networks are protected against the security risks of unmanaged IM and P2P use, please visit www.akonix.com, call or email .

About Akonix
Akonix is the most deployed IM security product in the world, enabling Global 1000 companies to deploy productive, enterprise-wide IM that is secure, compliant and managed.

Over one million global users across hundreds of organizations in the Financial Services, Telecommunications, Energy, Technology, Healthcare and Entertainment industries use Akonix solutions. With more than a dozen patents pending, Akonix's award-winning products provide the industry's only automatically-updated protection to block viruses for both enterprise and public IM systems. Akonix has certified partnerships with all leading IM and presence providers including America Online(r), Microsoft, Yahoo!, Reuters, IBM, Parlano and Bloomberg.

An IM industry first, the Akonix Security Center (www.imsecuritycenter.com) provides real-time information about worms, viruses and other vulnerabilities that target IM and P2P networks. The company issues monthly and quarterly IM threat watch reports to track key trends and vulnerabilities.