Customer Reviews

Instant Messaging Rules: A Business Guide to Managing Policies, Security, and Legal Issues for Safe IM Communication

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Previously, I have reviewed "The ePolicy Handbook: Designing and Implementing Effective E-Mail, Internet and Software Policies" and "E-Mail Rules - A Business Guide to Managing Policies, Security, and Legal Issues for E-Mail and Digital Communication", the first two books in a "trilogy" by Nancy Flynn of the ePolicy Institute. As I have mentioned in recent presentations on developing effective information technology policies, it is not realistic or recommended to adopt policies without taking a holistic view of the vulnerabilities, threats, and risk appetite of the organization.

From this viewpoint, Flynn's third book in the series, "Instant Messaging Rules - A Business Guide to Managing Policies, Security, and Legal Issues for Safe IM Communication" (210 Pages, The American Management Association, 2004, ISBN 0814472532), offers little more than a rehash of what has been written in the first two titles. However, this does not mean the book is totally without merit and should not be read.

The book borders on redundancy with the first two books with its discussions of threats and vulnerabilities, how to conduct risk assessments, etc. So we can skip any discussion of these topics. What the book excels in is making clear that Instant Messaging, while being a different, "newish" form of communication, is widely misunderstood in terms of the heightened levels of threats and vulnerabilities brought about because of its use. It is this misunderstanding that has many organizations not really realizing that their employees may be using public instant messaging networks at work, or that they are not treating instant messaging logs as possible business records.

So even if you have read one or both of the earlier titles, this one is worth picking up to complete the library. I am sure she will soon have a title on blogs and content will again be redundant, but sometimes this is what it takes to get a point across. And for once, the author has left of the appendix pushing her business and the business of her colleagues. Unfortunately, the only tiles under recommended reading are the books she has written. C'est la vie.

The Scorecard

Par on a Short Par 4

This book is very timely given the growth of IM in the workplace. However, I found that it is very wordy, with minimal content. Could have been condensed into a short article. On the other hand, if you are new to IM or security, the book will be a good introduction.