Protecting Your Instant Messages from Prying Eyes

Reader Avinash writes: I am emailing you regarding instant messaging encryption. Recently, I have been worried that my instant messages are being intercepted. Since I am not as experienced with computers myself, I was wondering what kind of precautions the average user can take to guard against packet sniffers and other typical tools.

You aren't paranoid: It is rather common for workplaces to monitor instant messaging traffic, and savvy individuals could do it by intercepting, say, your Wi-Fi signal in your house or a public wireless hotspot. If you're discussing sensitive material via IM, you might want to consider encrypting your IM traffic.

The good news is that encryption is available for virtually every IM platform. Here are solutions for Yahoo! IM and MSN as well as AIM, and there are many more than those. There are also several proprietary IM services that have the encryption built right in.

The catch is that both sides of the IM session need to have encryption turned on for this to work. If using a plug-in, both you and the person you're chatting to will need to have it installed and activated, or else you won't be able to use an encrypted channel.

Also note that encryption will not really help you if you have spyware or another malware app like a keylogger installed directly on your computer. These apps can capture what you type rather than the traffic you're sending back and forth, so they nab the info before it can get encrypted. Make sure your system is spyware-free before you start worrying about encryption.