Security Issues w/ Windows Messenger

[Guest]

Are there any known security risks with Windows Messenger. Our corporate
company uses it behind a firewall though on Windows XP Pro SP1.

I know the "Messenger Service" can be a security risk, but I know that is
different from Windows Messenger. Thoughts anyone?

 

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Greetings Amanda,

There are no known security issues with Windows Messenger 4.7.2009 and above. Have there
been issues in the past? Yes, but those versions aren't even allowed to connect to the .NET
Messenger Service.
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Messenger/MSN Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com
All posts unless otherwise specified are (c) 2004 Jonathan Kay.
You *must* contact me for redistribution rights.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your response. We have the current Messenger version in our
environment. Do you know anything about security issues with MSN Messenger,
version 6.2 and higher?

 

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Hi Amanda,

For the extremely paranoid, I would say not to run MSN Messenger 6.2.

However, it also really depends what you consider to be a security issue, for instance, MSN
Messenger 6.x allows files to be sent directly through the Messenger server; so even if you
were to lock down ports in an enterprise environment and only allow basic functionality to
work in Messenger, users could still send files to their contacts (which could be considered
a security issue in an enterprise environment).
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Messenger/MSN Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com
All posts unless otherwise specified are (c) 2004 Jonathan Kay.
You *must* contact me for redistribution rights.

 

[Guest]

Thanls, Jonathan. I don't have a concern about file sharing. I think we are
fine using it in our office.

 

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Hi Amanda,

No problem
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Messenger/MSN Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com
All posts unless otherwise specified are (c) 2004 Jonathan Kay.
You *must* contact me for redistribution rights.