227 Volts

It’s the keyword everyone tells consumers these days to be aware of.  It’s used to scare monger people and it’s used to ensure you’re not complacent.  It’s my colleague Andy Malone’s favourite word.  What is it?

SECURITY

Yes, security.  Make sure your anti-virus is up-to-date.  Make sure you have the latest patches. Make sure your wireless access point is secure.  Don’t give out passwords.  The list goes on and on.  However today, when I logged in to my Yahoo! mail, I came across an interesting piece on security that enforced why those not in IT – the bulk of the general public – are so totally confused by it.

Let’s have a look at what Yahoo! suggest:

If you click on the image to make it larger the advert reads:

Our Latest Security Advice: Never Reply to Emails asking for your Yahoo! id & password – Upgrade to Firefox 3.6

OK guys, totally agree with the first statement, however what does the second piece have to do with the price of fish?  Are you trying to tell the public that by upgrading to Firefox 3.6 that spam emails asking for their Yahoo! id (by the way, you might want to do a bit of consistency checking, as on the login screen it’s Yahoo! ID (not id)):

but at any rate I digress…I’d like to know please, how upgrading to Firefox 3.6 will help alleviate getting the pesky emails that are asking for your credentials?  Plain and simple, it won’t and your marketing tactics (or maybe Mozilla’s in this case) are yet another reason why the muddy security waters of the Internet, as it is today, is confusing the living daylights out of those who are just lay users and scaring them in to doing things they don’t want and also taking away from the true beauty of what the Internet can be and actually has to offer.

NOTE: Interestingly enough if I open the site using Firefox 3.6 it still suggests me to upgrade to Firefox 3.6.  Well played boys…

Happy Monday all

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