RE: Rant (Was Re: Our friend FTP, again)

[Russ <Russ.Cooper () rc on ca>]

Marcus,

I have been trying for almost a year now to get funding to bring about a
free for-profit service that would cater to the education of users about
security.

The idea is simple enough, make facilities available such that experts
would want to hold open (moderated) discussions within the service
environment (read: portal), then have a team of paid experts regurgitate
those expert techno-geek discussions into plain English so the masses
would be able to understand what they heck they're talking about.

The only way the infrastructure will change is if the market demands it.
If vendors can't see lost or increased sales in something, its ignored
(for the most part).

Through a series of public service-type media spots and a variety of
informative and fun FAQs and question forums, it *is* possible to raise
the level of awareness of the average consumer such that they *demand*
more security in the products and services they purchase today.

Despite my idea being a viable and profit-making entity, its received
virtually no response, largely, I believe, because I suspect "they"
think it can't be done.

User Education, as with so many other things, is the key to any future
security success. Any vendor who thinks they know how to solve the
issues surrounding security is simply fooling themselves. With so few
people using technology today, compared to how many will in the future,
anything based on a sense of "today's market" is simply flawed on the
basis that users don't even know what to ask for.

Be it a new set of high-level APIs, rip and replace, or a Anyone
interested in such an effort should contact me with their
check-book...;-]

Cheers,
Russ - NTBugtraq moderator

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