CNet news is reporting today that a potentially serious security flaw has been found in the Trillian instant messaging client. Trillian is an instant messaging (IM) software which allows users to interact with people using many different IM services, such as AOL Instant Messenger and MSN Messenger, using just one instant messaging client (Trillian) instead of having to run each instant messenger software for each service separately.
A large number of people use Trillian, and not surprisingly, as it has been estimated that at least 25% of home users instant message with people on at least two different IM networks at the same time.
The security hole discovered in Trillian will allow a malicious hacker to shut down programs running on the target machine, and even to take control of the entire computer.
Trillian’s CEO, Scott Werndorfer, played the flaw down as being “extremely low risk”, stating that the hacker would need to create a fake instant messaging software, then send a message to the Trillian user, and then have the user accept the message. Aunty’s not so sure that would be so difficult for even the average script kiddie, let alone today’s sophisticated hacker.
Werndorfer also promised that the hole would be fixed in the next release of Trillian, and cautioned users in the meantime to be very careful when accepting file transfers and other communications from people who are not known to them.
This seems to be the month for instant messenger attacks, with worms targetting MSN Messenger and phishers attacking Yahoo Messenger.
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I’ve switched to Jabber protocol and I am using Psi as my main instant messaging client now. Much happier ever since. I’ve been using MSN before but it is too childish and too many viruses and worms come to your computer thru it.
I switched to Jabber protocol and I’m currently using Psi as my instant messaging client. Much happier ever since.
It only affects the Yahoo Messenger component, and you have to accept a file transfer request.
Darn! But I can’t give up Trillian for AIM.