Instant Messenging is a common way of communicating these days. Its real-time, but it alleviates the need for long-distance charges. However, transmitting sensitive information via instant messages is a bad idea. The messages transmit across the internet totally unencrypted, meaning any hacker who was able to intercept your messages would then be able to read the contents. However, there is a way to secure your messages. AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft all support secure messaging in their enterprise IM clients, but it must be enabled. Trillian users can enable secure instant messaging as well. Zone Labs (the makers of ZoneAlarm), also puts out a program called IMSecure which will secure one instant messaging account. It will support AOL, Yahoo or Microsoft. There is a free version available, but the Pro version will secure multiple accounts whereas the free version will only do one.

If you want to transmit any sensitive information over IM, you really need to secure your instant messenging client.