Instant Messaging Woes

[Taavi Burns]

On Mon, Aug 09, 2004 at 02:05:28PM -0400, Wil McGilvery wrote:
> Some of the IM clients use port 80 when their other port is blocked. I know

But they all still connect to the same server(s), yes?  So long as those servers
are not also used for other things which you do NOT want to block, you can still
keep the application from connecting.

> MSN does this. The only way to block this is to start using an application
> proxy.

See above; it may not be necessary.  And an application proxy may also be
inadequate if, for example, they were actually tunneling their IM packets
over HTTP itself rather than just using the port.

> I may not be able to control who they chat with, but it would nice to have
> log files for reference.

I believe that MSN now encrypts all transmissions.  At best you  might be able
to figure out what IPs they're chatting with, unless all messages go through
the server, in which case you are absolutely none the wiser (apart from perhaps
some idea of "chat volume" on a per-seat basis at your end).

Perhaps a better question is: do these people need any access to the Internet
at all?

Also remember that many a frustrated, otherwise productive geek has been nothing
more than annoyed at not being able to get an SSH connection out.  ;)

-- 
taa
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