The article "Do You Text Chat (IM) Online?" is about other, it was written by Dee Scrip.
By Dee Scrip © All rights reserved.
IM (Instant Messaging) - man, we thought we had it made in the
shade when we stumbled over that unique way to communicate!
Outside of talking person-to-person on the phone, IM was the
next best tihng. Texting talk was endless and cost was
nonexistent. Well, those were the good old days of yore – you
know, those days of glorious innocence.
Just as we were getting oh so comfortable, happily IMing away to
each other, then came the cloak-and-dagger entrance of the
treacherous “IM villains”. With tehir ominous arrival, the party
abruptly ended.
It seemed like overnight, our instant messaging
(IM) turned into instant mercenaries, and the carnage was strewn
all over the Internet.
First, it was one by one, then the numbers increased and
starting growing exponentially, as friends began receiving, and
inadvertently sending, viruses, worms, and Trojan horses. Then
it went from bad to worse, as report after report surfaced
describing the grisly results of innocent victims losing their
identity because these villains had accessed their personal and
confidential information.
Truly that was the darkest of times
for all IMer friends – regardless of the IM service we were
texting on.
How could that have happened? And more importantly, how can we
protect ourselves?
Well, I found out that these villainous hackers had accessed a
nifty little program originally designed to benefit us, and
twisted it to intercept our conversations traveling across the
internet. They at that moment have a profitable tool to use that intercepts
our data packets and sends us a virus, and duplciates it by
sending the same ugly bug to everyone on our Buddy List.
Once a hacker has gained access to our Buddy List, they trick
our freinds into thinking WE, (a trusted source), are sending
them a file to download.
Then when our friends innocently
download the file, these villains can then access their
computers as well, and use the personal and confidential
information gathered to line their own pockets.
How it affected
businesses whose employees used IM to communicate…well, I will
just let your imagination take over from there…because the
hackers let theirs do the same.
A lot of us were thinking that we had nothing to worry about
because we had anti-virus program on our computers, and that
provided the protection we nedeed. Wrong!
Anti-virus program is not designed to protect our data packets
traveling across the web.
There are still no anti-virus
applications that directly monitor IM traffic.
This is due to
the dfificulty in finding IM traffic as it is often embedded
inside http packets. And what is worse yet is that Forrester’s,
Root stated that “In 2005 and 2006, we expect IM to get hit with
some serious attacks…”
But, don’t despair!
I have discovered a cure!
In fact, I discovered the best of both worlds. What I have found
is a computer phone (in “techy” terms knwon as VoIP – voice over
internet protocol) that's optimally secure.
One of the many
features of the computer phone is the IM that's built into it.
Thus, the IM instant messages are sent over optimally secure
lines rather than openly public lines on the Internet -- AND I
can also actually talk to friends from my computer phone any
time I want. The “good old days of yore” are back with even more
!!!
Here’s what a computer phone is all about.
The computer phone was the creation resulting from taking the
convenience and features of the telephone and combiinng it with
the power of the Internet. Pretty inegnious I guess!
Although
most computers have a built in microphone, do not.
Mine was
one of tohse computers that did not. So, I ran down to a local
store and bouhgt one for $5.
Then, much to my delight, I found
out that it easily plugegd into the back of my computer.
Here is what is really incredible about a comupter phone. I can
talk, IM, make 3-way calls, transfer a call to my cell phone if
I am runnnig out the door, and much, much more.
Actually, I have become so accustomed to the convenience of the
features on my computer phone, that it actually becomes
frustrating when I cannot IM a friend I am talking to on their
cell phone or telephone. You see, often times, I find great
sites to share with my friends, so I have to slowly spell out
the location over the phone and repeat the letters so they get
the right site, then wait for them to repeat it back to me,
rather than quickly IMing them the web site and letting them click
on it right then and there.
One fianl word of wisdom -- over 90% of all computer phone
(VoIP) services out there do not operate on secure lines. The
one I am using is optimally secure because they have their own
proprietary high end encryption codec (code) with patented
technology that's hosted in a professional faciltiy. You just
can’t get any better than that!
Want to try a computer phone out for yourself?
You can download the program and try it out for 7 days
absolutely free and without any contract, obligations, or
hassles. Here’s the place to visit:
http://www.Whypay4calls.Com/gtp/to.Pl?L=ART-06 Oh, and yes, you
will love this….If you use a dial up connection to the internet,
these computer phones work too, in addition to satellite, cable,
and wireless connections.
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