Gartner analyst: IM has become an e-mail alternative for distributing viruses and other malware. Akonix reported recently that it had tracked 20 new pieces of malicious code in February. Only 10 percent of organizations have formal IM policies, according to a 2007 Burton Group survey. IM security vendors provide a central point of management, consolidating policy, monitoring and reporting for disparate IM networks and clients. IM authentication, threat protection and archiving will likely be subsumed by antivirus software.”]