Firewall Wizards mailing list archives
Re: Ethics & hiring
From: Bennett Todd <bet () rahul net>
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 14:53:44 +0000
2004-11-17T18:38:29 Gwendolynn ferch Elydyr:
[...] antivirus company [...] called a halt to its partnership with SecurePoint because of that firm's decision to hire the young man who allegedly created Sasser.
Without taking up an opinion on the broader questions here, I think this particular news item might be a weak one from which to draw broad conclusions. Anti-virus companies are in a very, very awkward position. Their business is profitable solely because of the widespread problems with viruses; if it weren't for all the malware authors, they'd be out of business. They make their money on viruses. Furthermore, one important factor in gaining market share is the most prompt possible signature updates; customers like to receive the sigs for a new virus before they get hit by the virus. This is a precarious position to be in; a quick glance suggests the way to be a really great A/V vendor is to write viruses, update your sigs, then distribute the viruses. Conflict-of-interest issues arise when talking about anti-virus companies -vs- virus authors that are completely separate from any moral qualms people may have about hiring such malware perps. -Bennett
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- Ethics & hiring Gwendolynn ferch Elydyr (Nov 18)
- Re: Ethics & hiring Bennett Todd (Nov 18)
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- Re: Ethics & hiring Mike Smith (Nov 22)