Study: IM worms up again in November

The number of worms that targeted instant-messaging services hit 62 in November, up 226 percent from October and hitting a new record, Akonix Systems said Tuesday. Of the worms, 58 were variants of previous pests, and four were new. In the same month, a total of 14 attacks hit peer-to-peer networks, such as Kazaa and eDonkey, according to Akonix, which sells security software and appliances.

Of the worms related to IM services, 36 percent were tuned to more than one public network, and 13 percent had the capability to spread through all four major IM networks. This indicates that threats are getting more sophisticated and no longer target just one IM system, Akonix said. Popular IM networks are run by America Online, Microsoft and Yahoo.