Anti-FUD FUD
Like the cycling of the moon, the security industry also exhibits periods of waxing and waning on particular issues.
At the moment it looks like were entering the Waxing Gibbous stage for anti-FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Despair) movement. In recent weeks the proliferation of calls to deal with FUD within the security industry has picked up. Depending upon the particular sector, you'll encounter discussions about overcoming the fears associated with shifting data in to the cloud, why "advanced" threats aren't so important if the bulk of attacks don't need to be, etc.
As you'd expect, there are quite a few security folks who make their dime by being vocal about a particular topic, and it's that time of the cycle that the anti-FUD speeches get dusted off and replayed. That's not to say that the anti-FUD folks are unique. There's an biannual waxing and waning to the Full Disclosure movement too, along with annual revisits to the topic of Vulnerability Purchasing Programs, etc.
The anti-FUD movement consequently promotes their own kind of "FUD" - speculating that the world would be a better place if FUD ceased to exist in the security world, and that organizations would be better able to prepare their defenses without the distractions of the next biggest threat.
Some aspects of the anti-FUD cause I might just agree with, but in general I'm less inclined to to follow much of rhetoric from die-hard security officinardos. Why? Well, for the most part, many of their statements are naive in that they obviously fail to understand the world they live in. Listening to them you'd think this is an IT security problem - but in reality "FUD" is a critical element of the sales cycle - regardless of whether you're selling car tires or anti-zit cream.
Every second car advertisement on TV extols the virtue of their safety features, even drunk-driving and "wear your seat-belt" literature distributed state authorities cover the gruesome consequences of not following the rules and taking appropriate actions. FUD gains the attention of the viewer/reader, educates them in some capacity and makes them think more about the consequences of their actions (or inaction's).
FUD is everywhere - just watch the ads covering Zit cream and Tampons on TV, and you'll get the idea. FUD is a critical element of the sales cycle by eliciting a reaction to the message (generally - aiming for a buying reaction).
Folks that jump on their anti-FUD high horses, from my own experience, tend to struggle with commercial sales because they fail to understand what FUD is all about - education, compulsion and sales.
Having said all that, lets not go to the other extreme though. In order to make their FUD more compelling and elicit a greater compulsion for listeners, some sales folks will stretch the truth in to the realm of fiction. These folks need to be quickly reigned-in by the company paying their paycheck. To do otherwise would inevitably result in pissed off customers and a loss of business.
Final thoughts? The security industry is no different from any other industry with innovative products aimed at solving the problems of today and the future. FUD is a way of life, get used to it.
