10.21.09
Gemini version available ♊︎Novell Spreads Fear to Market Its Products
Summary: Novell Threat Assessment Tool is marketed through fear; other small bits from the news
NOVELL INCORPORATED, producer of "peace of mind" solutions, uses FUD not only to market GNU/Linux. Based on the following press release, Novell also manufactures fearsome statements in order to sell its security products; this is a pattern we’ve noticed a lot in recent months, namely Novell creating problems of out of nothing just in order to sell its ‘medicine’.
“Endpoint security threats are evolving at a rapid pace,” said Grant Ho, senior solution manager for Endpoint Management at Novell. “Every day, vital customer data is lost due to lax security practices. The Threat Assessment survey is designed to give enterprises a better idea of their security vulnerabilities as well as provide guidance to ensure they are doing everything they can to secure their endpoints and protect sensitive corporate and customer data.”
There is already an article about it. Novell is trying to sell Threat
Assessment Tool by spreading fear in press releases. Sad, very sad. Then again, this is Novell, the company which befriends McAfee quite routinely (some pondered a merger) — the company which apparently violates the GPL and definitely spreads FUD about the GPL [1, 2, 3].
In another new article, Novell’s Ben Goodman is quoted regarding securing intellectual monopolies — a class of imaginary products that Novell cherishes.
And while the options for securing USB access were a bit slimmer during Yu’s alleged activities three years ago, locking down USB drives is crucial, notes Ben Goodman, principal technical specialist for compliance at Novell. “Having an engineering workstation with access to intellectual property that [would have] let him use CD-Rs or USBs is almost neglect [today], ” Goodman says. “There are so many tools out there to help you lock down USB drives.”
In other news this week, Novell gets dumped for Microsoft in New Zealand.
“We’re also changing from Novell to Windows and at the end we should have pretty up-to-date IT.
“The next move will be to Exchange.”
ᶃ Gemini Space
This post is also available in 
Content is available under CC-BY-SA