When a major worm or virus strikes, a wave of anxiety sweeps over most of us. But there are some who, I imagine, become quite happy, who smile, rub their hands together and, like Mr. Burns of “The Simpsons,” exclaim, “Excellent!” I am thinking about some anti-virus and security vendors because, after all, who doesn’t like a chance to increase business? The best security companies know enough to be reserved in their announcements about virus threats and not blow every problem out of proportion. They know that this kind of behavior does neither them nor their customers any good. But some security companies have no such restraint. These companies live to get themselves written about in the IT and general press and will use scare tactics, hype and exaggeration to get attention. They’ll discover minor, nearly unexploitable security problems and publicize them to the level of an Internet apocalypse. They’ll make outrageous claims of impending doom that go against what everyone else in the security community believes, but that might make good print to an unsuspecting reporter. And they’ll regularly release “major” studies with “surprising” conclusions that typically use questionable data and methodologies. Full Story
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