An Information Security Place

OK, I haven’t posted in a while, and I am writing this to say that I won’t be posting much (if at all) for the next month. I am working on a DR test for April, and it is with a brand new environment, so it is killing me. Plus I have to have the Risk Assessment report reviewed this week, and I have to meet with one of the assessors to go over some other stuff, then I have to finish creating a security awareness powerpoint and video. Crazy. Anyway, I’ll post when I can, but I don’t have a lot of time right now to look at mags, newsletters, blogs, etc.

I’ll be back when I can.

Vet

Go see this if you haven’t already.

The jist is that Symantec has dropped it’s lawsuit against Hotbar, and they have changed the recommended action when Hotbar is detected on your computer.

Excerpt: “Symantec acknowledged that although its security software will continue to detect Hotbar’s products as adware, it has changed the recommendation it gives to customers. Previously, Symantec recommended that users delete Hotbar; now, says Symantec, it’s reclassified Hotbar’s toolbars as “low-risk” and recommends that users ignore the software and let it be.”

No big surprise. This is one flaw with these large companies offering these types of security products. They are just too political. It is why I continue to use Spybot at work and at home, even though I am also using products from CA (home) and Symantec (work).

I don’t know much about Ben Edelman, but read this excerpt:

“They just don’t get it. Whether software gets consent from users to install isn’t the only thing they should be looking at.” He questioned whether users of Hotbar understood they would get pop-up, pop-under, and auto-opening ads when they consented to the installation, and criticized the company for targeting kids with come-ons to download and install their toolbars.
“Children may be less able to assess the merits of an Hotbar offer,” Edelman wrote on his Web site in an analysis of Hotbar done last May. “[They're ] less able to determine whether Hotbar software is a good value, less likely to realize the privacy and other consequences of installing such software, less inclined to examine a lengthy license agreement.”

Thank you, Mr. Edelman. In fact, children cannot enter into binding contracts. Correct me if I am wrong, but it is illegal even if they click a link that says they are 18.

Vet