FOSTER CITY, Calif. - August 11, 2004 -
FaceTime Communications, the leading provider of solutions that
secure, manage, and extend instant messaging (IM) and other forms
of real-time communications, announced today that it has provided
its customers the only successful method to combat the flaw in the
AOL's popular instant messaging client, AIM, discovered earlier
this week. The company has provided its IMAuditor customers
directions to enable full protection against this newly identified
flaw prior to an AOL's release of a security patch, scheduled for
the end of the week. Two firms discovered a flaw in AIM's
architecture that could allow computer hackers to send a buffer
overflow through AIM's "away" function, which is used to indicate
to other AIM members that the user is not at the computer. With the
"away" sign on, hackers can take over the computer by sending long
messages of approximately 1,024 bytes in size. After the buffer is
overridden by the long messages the flaw is fully exposed once the
hacker directs the client PC to a Web site where more code could be
downloaded. IMAuditor has the ability to restrict messages with
specific phrases and key words thus thwarting attempt at an attack
to an unsuspecting "away" AIM user. FaceTime security experts
immediately issued, to its customers, the phrases and words that
need to be entered in order to block potential attempts at
exploiting the AIM flaw. "This discovery within the AIM client
should serve as a reminder, to executives responsible for corporate
IT infrastructure safety, of the potential for the significant
liability posed by IM," said FaceTime Vice President of Products
and Chief Technology Officer Jonathan Christensen. "Our response to
this flaw validates the role IM gateway providers play in
protecting enterprises from these dangers. IM is a complicated
communications tool that needs very specialized expertise to
provide adequate protection. Without FaceTime's "Defense-in-Depth"
solution, companies are vulnerable to the emerging threats posed by
uncontrolled IM and P2P usage." According to IDC, up to 70 percent
of businesses have free, consumer-oriented IM-usage, whether they
know it or not, which leaves the network vulnerable to a variety of
worms and viruses through flaws like this one in the AIM client.
FaceTime provides secure IM use to over 350 customers, including
half of the world's largest financial services firms. For more
information on how FaceTime solutions can protect your environment
from this latest virus and other malware, please contact us at
info@facetime.com.
About Actiance, Inc. (Formerly FaceTime Communications, Inc.)
FaceTime Communications became Actiance, Inc on January 11, 2011 following an agreement to
transfer the FaceTime trademark to Apple.
FaceTime Communications enables the safe and productive use of Unified Communications and Web 2.0,
including instant messaging, blogs and social networking. Ranked number one by IDC for five consecutive
years, FaceTime's award-winning solutions are used by more than 1,500 customers for the security,
management and compliance of real-time communications. FaceTime supports or has strategic partnerships
with all leading IM, unified communications providers and social networks including AOL, Google, Yahoo!,
Skype, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
FaceTime is headquartered in Belmont, California. For more information visit
http://www.facetime.com or call 888-349-3223.
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