EH-Net

I saw this on Slashdot the other day.  It looks like another company is trying to sell software by using the "security by obscurity" argument.


http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-01-11/google-android-more-vulnerable-than-iphone-antivirus-maker-says.html (http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-01-11/google-android-more-vulnerable-than-iphone-antivirus-maker-says.html)

Indeed. It's rather troubling in all honesty. We have the chairman of a major security company using a poor argument which will only result in consumers being more confused about security than they may have already been. I realize that a businesses primary concern is generation profit, but they should not be doing that by scaring customers into purchasing their product with outright lies.

I've posted about it on my blog: http://mathewpower.wordpress.com/2011/01/14/trend-micro-chairmen-clueless/

we've heard this argument before, the problem is that I have seen very little evidence to support it. History shows us that major players with large market share are most likely to be attacked. Crackers dont care if your product is open source or closed source, they'll find the vulnerabilities and exploit them.

I'm thinking he may have meant it differently than how we might take it. To a point, he's right. With the Iphone only criminals will be looking to infect you and take over your phone.

However with the Android being an open platform, anyone can go and look at things, and file bug reports whether they understand what they are looking for or not.

At the same time you have people like my pal Jon Oberhide, writing APPs that Google has had to pull. The Twighlight app that Google tested their kill feature on, the fake Angry Birds bonus levels, which installed 3 other fake programs. (Jon leads the local City Sec group ArbSec, how I met him, and is a security researcher, I've also heard that his shmoocon talk should be pretty good).

Some would argue that it's things like that, and Apple's app review before release model that keeps things safe.

I'm not saying his argument is good, I'm just saying that he may have meant it in a way we don't see it. I don't think he was talking to the people like us, but more to the lay-people who just want things that work.

He's trying to sell the new Trend Micro Android software http://us.trendmicro.com/us/products/personal/mobile-security-for-android/

It's not confusion, it's just plain marketing FUD.

I stand corrected. I wonder why I keep giving people the benefit of the doubt. :)

Generally... it all comes back to the $$$.  :P  It's why I married an optomist... so I can have someone to help balance out my suspicious outlook on most everyone and everything.  None the less, interesting link. 

It's funny, my wife is so pessimistic I have to switch gears when I get home and be the optimist. So very different from how I am at work.