CEO accuses vendors of using scare tactics and publicity-seeking gimmicks to stand out

PineApp CEO Rakash Gupta has criticised security vendors for pulling out all the stops to raise awareness of the latest threats and make them stand out from the crowd.

Gupta said: “It is security vendors' responsibility to provide sensible, intelligent advice that allows computer owners to accurately assess their risks and put the right measures in place to stop their homes or businesses from being affected. The bottom line is that if computer owners have the right solution in place, security is really nothing to be afraid of.  It's time to stop the gimmicks.”

Gupta specifically picked on McAfee and Sophos as ‘leaders of the pack' when it comes to ‘using scare tactics and publicity-seeking gimmicks to capture computer owners' attention and their cash'.

Pointing to recent incidents, to coincide with spam's 30^th birthday, Sophos urged people to take an oath of allegiance to put a stop to spam so that it ‘doesn't celebrate a 40^th or 50^th birthday'. It created a Facebook Group titled 'The Sophos Spam Pledge - "I won't buy goods advertised via spam"', and released a YouTube video of people taking the oath, promising never to click on links in unsolicited emails.

Gupta claimed that: “Sophos would not disclose the number of people that had taken its oath. The YouTube video has been seen over 2,000 times but this is by no means an indicator of ‘pledgees'. Oh and it hasn't really stopped spam yet either.”

McAfee hired a mother of three to act as the industry's first, to make security a ‘family issue'. It launched the appointment with a survey by the chief cyber security mum that revealed that mothers rate cyber dangers as high as drunk driving or experimenting with drugs.

He also criticised McAfee and Panda Security over their warnings over people becoming ‘mules' for laundering money or stolen goods, claiming that the companies are unable to offer any evidence that people are being scammed by this new type of fraud.However, Gupta said that the chief cyber security mum was blogging but since starting her blog in October 2008, she has only received 58 links (only one parenting blog), just 139 blog reactions and has a Technorati authority rating of 19 so is not considered influential.”

See original article on scmagazineus.com