Hackers Aiming At New Target: Instant Messages

Instant messaging, the quicker-than-e-mail alternative for online communication, is moving rapidly from teenagers’ bedrooms to mainstream America.

Last month, the number of instant messages containing computer “malware” soared by 500 percent from the previous month, according to one Internet security company. In the first quarter of 2006, the number was up more than 160 percent from a year earlier.

Last year, security experts found 2,400 different viruses, worms and other threats that hackers attached to instant messages, an increase of nearly 1,600 percent from the previous year. The programs were designed to take over computers, steal online passwords or break into computer files.

Currently, about 103 million people actively use instant messaging programs such as AOL’s AIM, Microsoft’s MSN Messenger and others.