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| | #1 (permalink) |
| | Live Messenger Conversation Privacy & Security Hi all, There are so many MSN conversation sniffer ads on the Internet. A search with keywords: 'msn sniffer' returns 514,000 results. The first results says: "MSN Sniffer - Caputre MSN chate on your network". Apparently MSN chats can be intercepted on local networks. This seems to be a very serious issue, but there seems to be no solution for this, and all major IMs send plain-text. Can anyone comment on this? |
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| | #2 (permalink) |
| | Re: Live Messenger Conversation Privacy & Security Greetings Howard, Messenger conversations are sent in plain-text and as such, if network traffic is passing by a node on a local network, it can be sniffed. If this is rather troublesome, you can use something like Simp to encrypt the traffic: http://www.secway.fr/us/products/simplite_msn/home.php -- Jonathan Kay Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger MessengerGeek Blog: http://www.messengergeek.com Messenger Resources: http://messenger.jonathankay.com (c) 2008 Jonathan Kay - If redistributing, you must include this signature or citation -- "Howard" <Howard@xxxxxx> wrote in message news:0659C33B-8F72-446E-BBE5-002890B01E07@xxxxxx Quote: > Hi all, > > There are so many MSN conversation sniffer ads on the Internet. A search > with keywords: 'msn sniffer' returns 514,000 results. The first results says: > "MSN Sniffer - Caputre MSN chate on your network". > Apparently MSN chats can be intercepted on local networks. This seems to be > a very serious issue, but there seems to be no solution for this, and all > major IMs send plain-text. > > Can anyone comment on this? |
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| | #3 (permalink) |
| | Re: Live Messenger Conversation Privacy & Security Hello Jon, Thanks a lot for the reply. Encryptions certainly will make the conversation safer but they are required on both sides. This is quite impractical since I cannot command all my contacts to install the same software... : ( So I'm wondering if Microsoft has any plan to add encryption capability (preferably by default) to Live Messenger? Also, will web-based messengers (such as meebo, webmessenger.msn.com, etc) make at least outgoing texts from my side safer? Cheers! "Jonathan Kay [MVP]" wrote: Quote: > Greetings Howard, > > Messenger conversations are sent in plain-text and as such, if network traffic is passing by > a node on a local network, it can be sniffed. > > If this is rather troublesome, you can use something like Simp to encrypt the traffic: > http://www.secway.fr/us/products/simplite_msn/home.php > > -- > Jonathan Kay > Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger > MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger > MessengerGeek Blog: http://www.messengergeek.com > Messenger Resources: http://messenger.jonathankay.com > (c) 2008 Jonathan Kay - If redistributing, you must include this signature or citation > -- > > > > "Howard" <Howard@xxxxxx> wrote in message > news:0659C33B-8F72-446E-BBE5-002890B01E07@xxxxxx Quote: > > Hi all, > > > > There are so many MSN conversation sniffer ads on the Internet. A search > > with keywords: 'msn sniffer' returns 514,000 results. The first results says: > > "MSN Sniffer - Caputre MSN chate on your network". > > Apparently MSN chats can be intercepted on local networks. This seems to be > > a very serious issue, but there seems to be no solution for this, and all > > major IMs send plain-text. > > > > Can anyone comment on this? > |
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| | #4 (permalink) |
| | Re: Live Messenger Conversation Privacy & Security Hi, I can't speak for the third-party web clients, but most are not using encryption either. Is there plans to add encryption to Messenger itself? Unknown, plans haven't even been finalized for the next release yet. However, I can tell you that it's certainly something on the table and hasn't been discounted yet (which I'm pleased to say for a change). -- Jonathan Kay Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger MessengerGeek Blog: http://www.messengergeek.com Messenger Resources: http://messenger.jonathankay.com (c) 2008 Jonathan Kay - If redistributing, you must include this signature or citation -- "Howard" <Howard@xxxxxx> wrote in message news:A105380A-9E24-4E31-88C0-37889F747609@xxxxxx Quote: > Hello Jon, > > Thanks a lot for the reply. Encryptions certainly will make the conversation > safer but they are required on both sides. This is quite impractical since I > cannot command all my contacts to install the same software... : ( > > So I'm wondering if Microsoft has any plan to add encryption capability > (preferably by default) to Live Messenger? > > Also, will web-based messengers (such as meebo, webmessenger.msn.com, etc) > make at least outgoing texts from my side safer? > > Cheers! > > > "Jonathan Kay [MVP]" wrote: > Quote: >> Greetings Howard, >> >> Messenger conversations are sent in plain-text and as such, if network traffic is passing >> by >> a node on a local network, it can be sniffed. >> >> If this is rather troublesome, you can use something like Simp to encrypt the traffic: >> http://www.secway.fr/us/products/simplite_msn/home.php >> >> -- >> Jonathan Kay >> Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger >> MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger >> MessengerGeek Blog: http://www.messengergeek.com >> Messenger Resources: http://messenger.jonathankay.com >> (c) 2008 Jonathan Kay - If redistributing, you must include this signature or citation >> -- >> >> >> >> "Howard" <Howard@xxxxxx> wrote in message >> news:0659C33B-8F72-446E-BBE5-002890B01E07@xxxxxx Quote: >> > Hi all, >> > >> > There are so many MSN conversation sniffer ads on the Internet. A search >> > with keywords: 'msn sniffer' returns 514,000 results. The first results says: >> > "MSN Sniffer - Caputre MSN chate on your network". >> > Apparently MSN chats can be intercepted on local networks. This seems to be >> > a very serious issue, but there seems to be no solution for this, and all >> > major IMs send plain-text. >> > >> > Can anyone comment on this? >> |
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| | #5 (permalink) |
| | Re: Live Messenger Conversation Privacy & Security Howard wrote: Quote: > Also, will web-based messengers (such as meebo, webmessenger.msn.com, > etc) make at least outgoing texts from my side safer? then no. This traffic-sniffing problem isn't a instant messenger issue, it is trivially easy for a knowlegeable person to capture web traffic on a network unless that traffic is encrypted. Even with SSL, the issues remain: 1) do you trust the website you're using? (your "etc" above can cover a lot of ground, not all of it safe and well-lit). 2) it still isn't encrypted at the other end if the other end doesn't support encryption. The whole of the conversation can be captured by someone sitting in the right place. |
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