In the near future, users from both IM networks, MSN and Yahoo, will be able to exchange instant messages, or to make PC-to-PC voice calls. But this is the good side of the [1] agreement, the bad side as some experts warn is after this inter-connection, IM worms will spread faster and attack a larger population of end-users.

The IM users are facing much more attacks than ever. The number of threats detected for IM and peer-to-peer networks rose 3,295 percent in the third quarter of 2005, compared with last year, according to a recent IMlogic report.

“A worm could proliferate further and faster on the combined network,” Akonix spokesman Don Montgomery agreed. “The need for security rises as we now have a much bigger network and much more usage.” his company sells products to help businesses protect themselves against IM-borne pests.

MSN network is known as the most attacked IM network among the other two major networks. In conclusion worms that were attacking MSN will also attack the Yahoo users. Providing a secure IM service is top priority at Yahoo and Microsoft, said Terrell Karlsten, a Yahoo spokeswoman. “This priority is certainly extending to the interoperability between our two communities,” she said. “We will certainly continue to innovate together and leverage our collective best practices to keep IM safe and secure.”