3 ms·

It sounds like the digital version of a protection racket: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protection_racket http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protection_racket

cpeterso 16y ago
I have often suspected that virus scanner companies funded some secret offshore teams to write viruses. Until the recent spam zombie botnets, most viruses were surprising benign (but scary enough to garner media hype and virus scanner sales). If a virus writer was truly malicious, it would be trivial for their virus to delete the user's hard disk (after first propagating itself, of course).
exDM69 16y ago
Yep, it seems like a racket to me too. Not only do these "security" companies have their 30 day trial versions pre-installed in just about every PC computer that is sold today, but seems that they have started harassing website admins too. $360 is just low enough for someone doing business in the web to pay in order to not lose more money to lost customers. But I can't help it, this sounds like very dishonest extortion to me. I used to think that these "security" companies were paying Microsoft in order to keep their software buggy so virus scanners and firewalls would sell more. Either Microsoft started fixing their software or stopped adding bugs on purpose so the security industry has had to find new sources of revenue. Btw, I've never had a virus scanner or a firewall software installed. Not even on Windows, and not even on the worst Windows XP times around 5 years ago. A simple NAT has kept all the hacking attempts at bay. At least I've never experienced suspicious network traffic or computers slowing down or other telltale signs of viruses/worms/hacking. I feel sorry for anyone who pays protection money to the IT security racket and I wish that everyone would just stop paying to this counterproductive industry.
- jarin 16y ago
  > I used to think that these "security" companies were paying Microsoft in order to keep their software buggy so virus scanners and firewalls would sell more. Either Microsoft started fixing their software or stopped adding bugs on purpose so the security industry has had to find new sources of revenue. You honestly think software bugs are some kind of AV industry conspiracy?
- giardini 16y ago
  exDM69 says "Btw, I've never had a virus scanner or a firewall software installed. Not even on Windows, and not even on the worst Windows XP times around 5 years ago. A simple NAT has kept all the hacking attempts at bay." How do you know that, if you never scanned for a virus or for spyware? How do you monitor network traffic? Most Windows system I have examined (Behind NATs, behind corporate firewalls, both with and without A/V and spyware detectors) had spyware or a virus. If the user thought there was a problem, there was almost always some malware involved.

cpeterso 16y ago

I have often suspected that virus scanner companies funded some secret offshore teams to write viruses. Until the recent spam zombie botnets, most viruses were surprising benign (but scary enough to garner media hype and virus scanner sales). If a virus writer was truly malicious, it would be trivial for their virus to delete the user's hard disk (after first propagating itself, of course).

exDM69 16y ago

Yep, it seems like a racket to me too. Not only do these "security" companies have their 30 day trial versions pre-installed in just about every PC computer that is sold today, but seems that they have started harassing website admins too. $360 is just low enough for someone doing business in the web to pay in order to not lose more money to lost customers. But I can't help it, this sounds like very dishonest extortion to me. I used to think that these "security" companies were paying Microsoft in order to keep their software buggy so virus scanners and firewalls would sell more. Either Microsoft started fixing their software or stopped adding bugs on purpose so the security industry has had to find new sources of revenue. Btw, I've never had a virus scanner or a firewall software installed. Not even on Windows, and not even on the worst Windows XP times around 5 years ago. A simple NAT has kept all the hacking attempts at bay. At least I've never experienced suspicious network traffic or computers slowing down or other telltale signs of viruses/worms/hacking. I feel sorry for anyone who pays protection money to the IT security racket and I wish that everyone would just stop paying to this counterproductive industry.

jarin 16y ago
> I used to think that these "security" companies were paying Microsoft in order to keep their software buggy so virus scanners and firewalls would sell more. Either Microsoft started fixing their software or stopped adding bugs on purpose so the security industry has had to find new sources of revenue. You honestly think software bugs are some kind of AV industry conspiracy?
giardini 16y ago
exDM69 says "Btw, I've never had a virus scanner or a firewall software installed. Not even on Windows, and not even on the worst Windows XP times around 5 years ago. A simple NAT has kept all the hacking attempts at bay." How do you know that, if you never scanned for a virus or for spyware? How do you monitor network traffic? Most Windows system I have examined (Behind NATs, behind corporate firewalls, both with and without A/V and spyware detectors) had spyware or a virus. If the user thought there was a problem, there was almost always some malware involved.