Privately held Akonix Systems developed Akonix L7 specifically to address the security concerns that are arising from the widespread use of programs such as AOL Time Warner's AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) and the Kazaa peer-to-peer service.

Those programs give outsiders a way into a computer inside an otherwise secure network. IM programs once only allowed people to send text back and forth, but now they let people exchange data files, which can do nasty things on the recipient's end. In peer-to-peer networks, computer users allow other people to reach into their hard drives and copy specific data, such as music files. Such programs allow data to flow through the same transmission channel on computers as Internet traffic and thus cannot be blocked.

Despite the security concerns of the programs, their use is increasing exponentially, just like e-mail did in the 1990s.

Research firm Jupiter Media Metrix estimates that more than 100 million people use some form of IM program to exchange real-time messages with friends or co-workers. And millions more swap music and other types of files over peer-to-peer networks, which were popularized by Napster, experts say.

Experts have predicted it was only a matter of time until viruses and other malicious programs wormed their way into those systems.

In May, antivirus companies warned of a virus, dubbed Benjamin, that was being spread to Kazaa users. Last week, a study from Hewlett-Packard revealed that misconfigured Kazaa software could expose sensitive files on someone's hard drive to other people.

"Instant messaging puts a big old hole through our firewall as far as viruses getting through," said Mike Irick, assistant director of academic computing at California State University at San Marcos. "I've had a few viruses get through."

To keep viruses from hitting professors' and students' computers at the school, Irick is beta testing Akonix L7, which sits at the perimeter of an organization's network. It monitors and logs the traffic, scanning it for viruses and other malicious code.

Another beta tester is the New York office of ING, The Hague-based financial conglomerate, where portfolio managers and brokers use AIM to send messages about stock trades, said Kristoffer Stack, vice president and director of network infrastructure.

ING is concerned that regulators, who require financial institutions to archive all their data, will eventually require them to record and store their IM communications, too, he said.

"From an (information technology) perspective, I would prefer they not use instant messaging, but they insisted it was critical to business," Stack said.

Because of the security concerns, a lot of organizations are trying to ban its use, said Richard Stiennon, research director for network security at market research firm Gartner.

Other IM applications are being designed with security in mind and tailored for the financial services community, but they do not allow people to communicate with anyone outside of that network.

AOL, in partnership with VeriSign, is slated to release a corporate version of its AIM later this year that encrypts the messages. But, experts said encrypting the traffic would prevent network administrators from distinguishing between safe messages and dangerous ones.

A version of Akonix L7 that secures IM programs will be released to the public in late June, followed by one for peer-to-peer programs in late summer, the company said.

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