SimpLite MSN: Instant Messengers, Instant Security

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.secway.fr/products/simplite_msn/home.php?PARAM=us,ie' target='_blank'>http://www.secway.fr/products/simpl...php?PARAM=us,ie</a><br /><br /></div>"SimpLite, the free instant messengers security solution. You are using instant messaging software to chat with your friends or colleagues. Did you know your messages are sent over the Internet in cleartext form? By encrypting messages before they leave your computer to the Internet, SimpLite-MSN prevents eavesdroppers from reading your personal MSN Messenger conversations. As the original successor of Simp 1.0, SimpLite-MSN benefits from state of the art algorithms to secure your messages, whilst maintaining an intuitive interface. SimpLite-MSN is free for a personal use at home or at the office. The only restriction is that only one product from the SimpLite family can be launched at the same time: either SimpLite-MSN, SimpLite-AIM, SimpLite-ICQ or SimpLite-Yahoo!."<br /><br />Pretty much everyone uses an instant messaging client now, but very few of them are secured - this is a rather innovative program that will help you to secure you IM chats with 2048 bit encryption. The installation is fast and painless, and once you get rid of the very confusing-looking program window, you don't need to look at it again - your chats will be encrypted, assuming both parties are using the encryption tool of course. Worth checking out!

[corphack]

Pretty much everyone uses an instant messaging client now,

but how many use non-auditable IMs in business (such as MSN)?

[Jason Dunn]

but how many use non-auditable IMs in business (such as MSN)?

I don't understand the question. "Non-auditable" sounds like a corporate term, and I'm just a peon writer. Can you explain it to me in another way?

[corphack]

"Non-auditable" is "corporate-speak"; since the scandals on Wall Street over the last few years (and especially the one last year involving delayed trading) most of the investment houses and banks have instituted IM products that can be audited, in an attempt to head off legislation. Bloomberg, Sametime, and a few others have added features to permit recording all IM exchanges in the trading environments in the same way that all phone and verbal conversations are routinely recorded and archived. Some (most?) of the investment organizations have also instituted a "no cellphone, no wifi, no bluetooth, etc." policy in the workplace because wireless conversations and emails are not yet auditable. The larger trading organizatons I deal with have formally prohibited Blackberries, 2-way pagers, WiFi Palms & PocketPCs, as well as cellphones from their trading areas to avoid any chance of some form of IM permitting insider trading violations.

[Jason Dunn]

Ah, ok. Sure, that makes sense, but that sounds like the minority of businesses, not the majority, so I think this can still be quite useful to many people, myself included. :-)

[corphack]

agreed. For individuals and non-regulated businesses. The guys I work with would probably be terrified of an outside encryption that they couldn't get a back door into, in case the SEC came knocking...

I wonder if they are considering a smartphone version. I would start using MSN on my mpx200 if I could encrypt the IMs.

[ctmagnus]

Kinda nice but one thing concerns me: Regardless if you use a strong alphanumeric password with lowercase, uppercase, digits and punctuation or if you enter aaaaaaaa as your password, the complexity meter progresses the same until you get eight characters entered.

[Jimmy Dodd]

I'm sure that someone out there is discussing something important using MSN Messenger, but my conversations tend to lean towards the Budweiser "Whassup!!" guys. :roll: Hardly a need for heavy encryption.

I'd be more inclined to use this on my PPC than on my desktop since I tend to use my PPC more often on public access WiFi nets and that seems to be a more "snoopable" situation.