Is there an easy way to have secure IM chats?

Some of the IM clients out there support secure chats, but I'm going to suggest that you check out a different service that's very cool and is a great solution that encompasses the situation when you don't even have your own computer, in fact, and are stuck using a public or loaner system: Meebo.com.

Meebo is a Web-based multi-platform IM client, so all you need is access to a reasonably modern Web browser and the Internet and you're able to jump on to AIM, MSN, Yahoo's YIM, Google Talk, ICQ and Jabber. All at once. Even better, if you have multiple accounts on a single service as I do, you can also specify all of those too, which is very cool.

Here's what it looks like when you're setting up an account:

That's all well and good, but what about that secure connection?

Turns out that while they don't advertise it, Meebo lets you connect to their server using an SSL connection and it stays secure from that point on. So, instead of going to http://www.meebo.com/ to log in to your IM services, go to https://www.meebo.com/. (note the https rather than the normal "http")

Now it's not completely secure point to point with your IM buddy, but it does protect you on the wifi network, which is really the most risky hop of the communication anyway.

Hope that helps you out. I'd also recommend you check out our ebook Connect Safely Wireless Security and Privacy Guide for lots more tips on how to be secure on an open wifi network, and much more.