Thank you for using IMsecure Pro 1.0 or IMsecure 1.0, build 1.0.2.0. This readme applies to both releases using the "IMsecure Pro" product name.
IMsecure Pro is the first comprehensive instant messaging (IM) security solution for any program that accesses the most popular IM services such as AOL Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger. IMsecure Pro ensures that IM conversations are private and secure, protecting PCs and valuable personal information from spammers, identity thieves, hackers and predators who exploit vulnerable IM connections. IMsecure Pro protects the PC transparently, regardless of service or client used, requiring no change to existing habits or software.
Unless otherwise indicated, all materials provided in this version are copyright (C) 2000 - 2003 by Zone Labs, Inc.
Zone Labs, Inc.,
San Francisco, 23 October 2003
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Table of Contents
1. Product Overview
2. System Requirements
3. Installation / Uninstallation
4. Technology Details
5. How To Get Help
6. License Keys and Subscriptions
7. Known Issues
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1. Product Overview
WHY DID ZONE LABS RELEASE A PRODUCT TO SECURE IM?
Our users trust Zone Labs to secure their Internet activity. IM is now a major activity for the large majority of our users so it made sense for us to help make their IM experience safe.
Many ZoneAlarm users report using IM more often than email, the majority with more than one IM client or a universal client like Trillian. As IM becomes more heavily used, hackers are flocking to it as their medium of choice by exploiting IM-specific vulnerabilities such as scripting and buffer overflow as well generic threats common to new technologies such as social engineering, identity theft and Spam. Additionally, there is a real concern that IM is even more vulnerable than email because of its persistent connection to the outside world, particularly when used with always-on, broadband connections.
Our users have told us they want one easy-to-use interface to close the gap between their comfort level with email security and their concern with IM security, regardless of which IM clients they use.
IS IMsecure Pro A NEW IM CLIENT? IS IT A NEW IM SERVICE?
NO. It is a transparent security layer that safeguards the use of your favorite IM clients, whether they are MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger or a universal client like Trillian that accesses those services.
I DIDN'T REALIZE IM WAS DANGEROUS. HOW IS IT DANGEROUS?
Art Manion, Internet Security Analyst at CERT, a federally funded high-tech research and development center at Carnegie Mellon University, says: "Instant messaging is being used a lot and people aren't paying attention to the security risks that are out there. People are still way too trusting, and they think instant messaging can't be used against them. But it can."
The combination of a few factors makes IM dangerous:
a. IM is ubiquitous with 70 million active users in the U.S. alone.
b. IM is a relatively new technology and people have not learned safe usage behavior yet.
c. IM creates a direct, persistent connection to the IM servers, unlike the short-lived, often intermediated connections with web browsing or email.
d. Out of the top three internet activities, email and browsing are much better protected than IM which makes the latter a logical target for hackers.
DOESN'T MY ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE PROTECT ME?
No. Some anti-virus products scan file transfers for viruses, but nothing more.
2. System Requirements
MINIMUM system requirements are as follows:
IBM PC or 100% compatible
Pentium Processor 233 MHz
32 MB RAM
6MB hard disk space
Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP
RECOMMENDED system requirements are as follows:
IBM PC or 100% compatible
Pentium II processor 450 MHz or higher
128 MB RAM
10MB hard disk space
Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP
IMsecure Pro supports any program that access IM services using one or more of the following protocols:
*AOL Instant Messenger (as supported in AIM version 4.3 or later)
*Yahoo! Messenger (as supported in Yahoo! Messenger version 5.0 or later)
*MSN Messenger (as supported by MSN Messenger 4.0 or later or Windows Messenger 4.6 or later)
IMsecure Pro does not support chat rooms.
3. Installation / Uninstallation
To install, you will need administrator privileges. The installer logs the changes made to your system to a file named INSTALL.LOG in the installation directory (by default, C:\program files\IMsecure).
To uninstall, select Start | Programs | Zone Labs | IMsecure | Uninstall IMsecure.
4. Technology Details
IMsecure uses a Winsock2 LSP (layered service provider) mechanism to monitor, filter and modify all MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger or AOL Instant Messenger traffic regardless of port or IP address. IM security based on IP addresses and ports is quickly outdated and easily circumvented.
Instant messages over MSN, Yahoo! and AOL are communicated via proprietary, non-standard and undocumented protocols. Through in-depth research of all three protocols and the commands that each uses, Zone Labs IMsecure Pro is able to secure IM traffic more effectively.
ENCRYPTION
IMsecure Pro relies on the OpenSSL library for cryptographic services. The text of each message in a secure session is encrypted with the DES 56-bit cipher in the CBC mode.
IMsecure Pro automatically and transparently creates a self-signed x.509v3 digital certificate for each of the user's IM accounts upon the first login. At the beginning of the first IM conversation between two IMsecure Pro users after installing IMsecure Pro, the certificates are transparently exchanged between the users and stored on their computers. The public key from one of the certificates is used to encrypt the session key to be used for the duration of the session. Upon receiving the encrypted session key, the other user's IMsecure Pro decrypts it with that user's private key and completes the secure session initialization. IMsecure Pro never reuses session keys.
Due to the fact that the current release of IMsecure Pro does not rely on any centralized service to verify each user's ownership of IM IDs, the so-called man-in-the-middle attack can be mounted against IMsecure Pro encryption scheme, whereby a hacker can intercept the certificates of two or more IMsecure Pro users during the initial certificate exchange and substitute them with her own, gaining access to all messages sent and received in the IM session. To prevent this type of attack, IMsecure Pro includes a utility that allows you to view digital fingerprints of your certificate and your contacts' certificates in order to ascertain that these certificates have not been compromised.
PROTECTING SENSITIVE INFORMATION STORED IN myVAULT
By default, IMsecure Pro "encrypts" your personal information so that people who gain access to your machine can not access your sensitive information. In this case, IMsecure Pro stores only an SHA1 one-way hash of your information and does not store the free text data. Once hashed, this data can not be recovered by anyone, including you.
IS IMsecure Pro "HARDENED"?
Zone Labs recommends that you run ZoneAlarm Pro in conjunction with IMsecure Pro to keep malware from accessing your PC through channels other than IM and disabling IMsecure Pro.
5. How To Get Help
To get immediate help, please see our in-product help files. To access them, click the Help button in the top right corner of the interface. You'll get help that's specific to the panel that was open when you clicked the Help button.
For further assistance, please visit Zone Labs Service and Support page at: http://www.zonelabs.com/support/. This page contains information on contacting customer service, technical support and accessing the Zone Labs User Community.
6. License Keys and Subscriptions
One and two year license keys are available for purchase on the Zone Labs website. The IMsecure trial requires no license key and expires after 15 days. IMsecure (free), requires no license key.
7. Known Issues
1. Notifications for blocking audio are not issued while using MSN 6 although the audio will be blocked according to the settings on the security panel. Blocking video does not work on MSN 6.
2. If audio over MSN is blocked using IMsecure Pro, users may get two notifications that a session is encrypted.
3. In Windows 2000, there are rare cases where the first application that attempts to connect to the Internet right after installing IMsecure Pro may hang, taking 50% or more CPU time. If this occurs, close the application or reboot.
4. To encrypt messages using Yahoo! Messenger, ensure that neither side is in invisible mode and that both each sides have added the other to their contact list.
5. On AOL Instant Messenger, incoming encrypted message marker may interfere with complex HTML formatting.
6. This version of IMsecure Pro does not sign or timestamp multi-user chat messages, which makes it possible for one of the multi-user chat participants to impersonate another participant, and remove or replay other participants' messages.
7. The use of a proxy may keep IMsecure Pro from encrypting messages. An example of a product that uses a proxy is Norton Personal Firewall. For Norton in particular, using non-default ports to access the IM servers solves this issue since Norton only watches default ports. To remove double notification of encrypted messages, turn off the incoming encrypted message setting in Overview | Settings.
8. Paltalk does not function correctly.
9. Newer ICQ versions are recognized as AOL Instant Messenger since they now use the same protocol. All corresponding AIM settings are applied except encryption.
10. Deleting a contact during an encrypted session may cause incorrect notifications to be issued.
11. AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) native encryption cannot be combined with IMsecure encryption. If AIM encryption is enabled, IMsecure will do nothing with AIM-encrypted sessions, simply letting them through.
12. Yahoo! Messenger access configured as "Firewall with no proxies" (Login->Preferences->Connection) is not supported. IMsecure Pro will pass the messages through and not apply security settings.
13. HTTP proxies are not yet supported. SOCKS4 and SOCKS5 are supported.
14. The following products use LSP technology that conflicts with IMsecure Pro:
*ESafe
*McAfee Firewall 4.x (fixed in later versions of McAfee Firewall)
*DrWeb
*V-One SmartPass
*NOD32 (NOD32 can be installed on top of IMsecure but not vice versa)
