Techniques are provided for securing instant communications, such as text, audio, and video. A tunnel management module is included in an instant communication suite that comprises one or more instant communication applications. Any communication between a user of the instant communicate suite and a contact passes through the tunnel management module, which may use TLS (or IPSec) technologies to ensure security of the instant communications. Each contact of a user may be associated with a different set of security mappings, which may be specified by the user. A tunnel configuration file is generated from a security mapping and is used to create a tunnel through which secure instant communications may pass.