Yesterday I blogged about fake security products and scareware.  Today, I’m taking it a step futher and throwing down the gauntlet against useless security products.

As part of our competitive intelligence, we often stumble on to security products that claim to be designed to protect the home consumer from a variety of security problems.  I’m not talking about anti-virus software or security suites, which serve valid purposes and for which I have all the respect for in the world.  I’m talking about the gadgets and add-ons people can buy online or in their local stores that promise “security for online shopping” or “security for online banking” while providing nothing of the sort.  Well, I shouldn’t say “nothing” – they do provide protection against a very small subset of the attacks that are out there, but these attacks are typically quite rare, and these products are often quite vulnerable to all sorts of other attacks, many of which are far more common.  It’s like buying a fence where the boards are spaced too far apart.  They may keep out the tigers, but they won’t keep out the dogs.  And what are more common, dogs or tigers?  Personally, I’d rather have a fence that kept out dogs than tigers, because the chances of me running into a tiger are pretty slim.  And if the fence is marketed as a “fence that keeps out wildlife”, that’s when I have to take a stand.

Unfortunately, to avoid getting sued, I can’t post the names of the other products on this blog.  (Frankly, I hate the legal system – if I’m exposing a product for exactly what it is, that shouldn’t be grounds for a lawsuit, but in this litigious world, you can’t be too careful).  However, I do believe in taking a stand against security products that claim to provide more protection than they actually do.  So, what we’re going to do is release this tool, which you can use to detect whether your security product is legitimate or not.  If you buy a security gadget, install this tool and try out your security product.  If it passes the test, keep the gadget and write about it to all your friends.  If it fails, pack it up, take it back to the store where you bought it immediately, and call the company and complain about selling a useless product.

If there’s going to be any progress in the war on cyber crime, we need legitimate solutions, not useless marketing ploys.

(Editor’s note:  You’ll be surprised how many products will fail this test).