Crying wolf revisited
While one AV vendor comes in for a roasting, the others enjoy the
rare taste of the moral high ground.
Last month was Network Associates' turn to come in for a roasting over its
hyping of W32/Perrun, the non-eventful proof-of-concept JPEG virus. On
receipt of the virus the company was quick to distribute a press release,
along with comments to the press - a move which raised the hackles of many.
Although careful to acknowledge the non-severity of the virus with
interjections such as 'we are not saying that this is a problem' and 'it's
not serious', given the mainstream media's love of a good old-fashioned
scare story - not to mention propensity for quoting out of context - one has
to question the thinking behind the unleashing of this information (or lack
thereof).
In February 2000 (see VB February 2000, p.5), a concerned Vincent
Gullotto of NAI wrote to VB, questioning the ethics of another AV company's
marketing activities, stating: 'in all the years of pushing information,
NAI hasn't even come close to manifesting such a barrage of unnecessary
warnings.'
VB wonders: is NAI attempting to make up for lost time?
But, while other AV companies may enjoy a sojourn on the moral high ground this
time around, it does appear that, for the majority, the temptation to churn
out press releases at every conceivable opportunity is irresistable.
Whether the result is a pile of groaningly tenuous PR 'stories' or less
than helpful scare-mongering, seems to be the luck of the editor's draw.
01 July 2002
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