F-Secure's Own Press Releases Apparently Invisible To Its Employees

from the jedi-mind-trick dept

Tue, Aug 8th 2006 9:38am — Carlo Longino

A couple of weeks ago, F-Secure got called out by another anti-virus company accusing it of whipping up hype about the threat of mobile viruses for its own benefit. F-Secure, of course, denied this claim, acting innocent, but the next week sounded the alarm again under questionable circumstances. The company received a sample of a new variant of an existing mobile virus -- one that like the others before it, requires some effort to install, and isn't very widespread. Keep in mind F-Secure just got a sample of the virus, it didn't receive any reports of it actually being in the wild, a point it later conceded after a Symbian exec again said F-Secure was overhyping the threat. What's a little more interesting, though, is this quote from somebody at the company: "[The threat from Commwarrior] isn't vast yet, but F-Secure is not issuing alerts or press releases". That's pretty funny, because this looks an awful lot like an F-Secure press release about the new virus variant, and it doesn't help further the case that F-Secure is being completely honest and innocent.

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10 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 8 Aug 2006 @ 10:34am

Since the article is not worthy..
At this time, I am not posting a comment.
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Xcetron, 8 Aug 2006 @ 10:49am

If only everyone remembers to backup their data, viruses then wouldnt mean anything.

I format my comp all the time, the only thing on it is the standard application, the OS, and the games, all which could be reinstalled in approximately 20 minutes.
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duh, 8 Aug 2006 @ 10:54am

Re:
Except for the fact that it could send your data to a remote location, jackass. Good solution.
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Aug 2006 @ 10:59am

RE: Xcetron
You must have an inordinate amount of time on your hands if you format or reformat your computer all the time. That's about the dumbest comment you have made lately.
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`Zidane Tribal, 8 Aug 2006 @ 11:44am

Re: Xcetron
I format my comp all the time, the only thing on it is the standard application, the OS, and the games, all which could be reinstalled in approximately 20 minutes.

you can install your entire OS, a 'standard application' and all your games in 20 minutes? gee, i didnt know people still played solitaire on windows 3., or perhaps you mean you can restore a disk image in 20 minutes? (yes, i know, i'm being a pedant, but he deserves it)

on the other hand, whilst your pc can break the speed of light, here in the real world the solution is not to simply 'format my comp all the time'. in fact, i heartily reccomend you walk up to an administrator of a 200+ node network and tell him he shouldnt bother protecting it, he should just format every machine all the time.

back on topic, i'm amazed on an almost continual basis by the overwhelming fear everyday people have of 'hackers getting into my hard drive' or 'viruses wiping out my identity', often to the point of installing several firewalls or viruscheckers. its ridiculous behaviour from companies like F-Secure that is largely responsible. perhaps we could just take the safety labels off everything and let the problem solve itself?
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Muzz, 8 Aug 2006 @ 1:47pm

WOW!!!
Commwarrior was a virus that hit smartphones and sell phones, not really PC based virus. So go ahead and format all you want.
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Teilo, 8 Aug 2006 @ 1:51pm

F-Secure custom article template
Today F-Secure announced their discovery of ___INSERT VIRUS NAME HERE ___, a new virus for ___INSERT PLATFORM HERE___, which until now most industry experts considered to be secure. But no longer. ____INSERT VIRSUS NAME HERE____ has proven that ___INSERT PLATFORM HERE___ suffers from the same security probems which have plagued Microsoft Windows for years. Thankfully, F-Secure is ready for the onslaught of ___INSERT PLATFORM NAME HERE___ viruses, and is ready with ___INSERT DECOY SOFTWARE PRODUCT NAME HERE___, the first widely available anti-virus product for ___INSERT PLATFORM NAME HERE___.

The only thing that is more ridiculous than F-Secure's constant fear-mongering is the lack of discernment by legitimate news sources that continue to report it.
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Tarek, 9 Aug 2006 @ 3:19am

Nokia Buy Into The Hype
I was checking out the new Nokia N73 in a store this weekend and noticed that F-Secures Mobile Anti-Virus had been pre-installed on the device (I assume this is part of the deal Nokia signed with F-Secure). It's a shame that their Fear-Mongering seems to be working for them....
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Me, 9 Aug 2006 @ 3:49am

So whats being said is that its wrong for F-Secure to protect against this sort of threat? And that its wrong for F-Secure to disclose this information?

I'd rather be informed and aware of a possible threat than not know at all.
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JustMe, 9 Aug 2006 @ 6:54am

Lab threats vs. actual threats
In this case they are hyping threats with a very small chance of being released in to the wild, and with a steep action curve before it can be installed on a phone.

In my estimate, the probablility is roughly the same as getting hit by lightning while wearing polka dot flip flops and singing Sinatra.

The original poster is of the opinion that F-Secure shouldn't send out alerts on this type of threat simply to have their name in the new every day. It doesn't help the overall cause of getting consumers to be aware of their online security and borders on fear mongering.
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