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CERTStation Threat-Level Aggregator

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the if-you-don't-like-the-weather-wait-a-minute dept.

sloit writes "Just spotted, the CERTStation Threat level Aggregator displays the current threat level, in real-time, as assessed by 8 of the Internet's leading vulnerability watch services such as Symantec Threatcon, ISS Alertcon and SANS Infocon on one publically accessible Web page. Well, that saves a lot of daily trudging!"

20 of 69 comments (clear)

  1. If it would only just *tell* me by milo_a_wagner · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Fine, fine, I guess. But with all those flicks and ticks and whooshes, isn't this the most annoyingly designed page *ever*? I can barely see anything. I think I'm about to have an epileptic fit, and I'm not epileptic.

    --
    Man wird am besten für seine Tugenden bestraft.
    1. Re:If it would only just *tell* me by thetroll123 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Try it with Flashblock enabled, gives a far cleaner interface...

    2. Re:If it would only just *tell* me by smooth+wombat · · Score: 2, Funny
      They laughed at me when I told them, "I don't have Flash installed."


      Now who's laughing! Mwahahahahahahaha!!!!!

      --
      We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
  2. Because we all know... by hellfire · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...breaking down threats and dangers in to colors like magenta, cyan, mauve, ash, and indigo, rather than actually telling us what the threat is, is a great way to communicate to the populace the danger they should think they are in, and thus keep control over the small minded populace.

    --

    "All great wisdom is contained in .signature files"

    1. Re:Because we all know... by fotbr · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Useless for us, yes, but it does make it convenient for showing clueless middle-management types.

      That said, I think the clueless middle-management types are the target of that website, given the amount of junk they're selling.

  3. Now with Flashy goodness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Wow, with my Linux box, I can't see any threats at all! Linux makes everything more secure!

  4. Its nice by MaxPowerDJ · · Score: 2, Funny

    I think its nice because I can forward the page to my boss and justify a whole bunch of hours online surfin' the web. He'll be too busy figuring out what the hell those animations mean.

    --
    --MaxPowerDJ
  5. Flash and gravity by Toby+The+Economist · · Score: 3, Insightful

    > the CERTStation Threat level Aggregator displays the current threat level,

    Well, it does if you have Flash installed.

    Which makes the page 100% useless to all those who do not.

    Making a page useless to a proportion of your viewers, in exchange for (supposedly!) looking better, is a poor exchange; even more so when you consider that Flash sites in practise often violate user-interface guidelines and are a nightmare for users.

    My view is that the larger the number of people involved, the more strongly the decisions taken gravitate towards the worst possible choice.

    This is why they have Flash on their site.

    If just one reasonably talented bloke had been given responsibility for the site, it would, I think, be likely to be useable and functional.

    1. Re:Flash and gravity by rk · · Score: 3, Informative

      "we see it fine"

      For a liberal interpretation of the word "fine". Gah! I have Flash installed and this site was hideous enough to consider UNinstalling it.

      To the GP, it's 100% useless to those who have Flash installed, too.

  6. Virus checker companies by sdo1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Companies that make their business on selling virus checking software will almost always over-exaggerate the threat. I'd be shocked to see Symantec and McAfee show anything much lower than their showing (yellow). It is in their best interest to keep the perception of impending doom alive and well.

    -S

    --
    --- What parts of "shall make no law", "shall not be infringed", and "shall not be violated" don't you understand?
  7. FUGLY by LorenzoV · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Who the f*ck posted this article? -- Astroturfing his own site, no doubt.

    In any case, this is the FUGLIEST site I've ever seen anywhere. Bar None!

    Flash. Bah! Humbug! -- I won't visit it again. Ever.

  8. isn't it obvious that it is a by slack_prad · · Score: 2, Interesting

    slashvert

    --
    Sent from my desktop computer
  9. Interesting... by DaveM753 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The vertical ticker on the right showed 10 flaws in Firefox and 8 flaws in Thunderbird. Oddly, it didn't list Internet Explorer, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Vista, Outlook, Outlook Express, etc.

    1. Re:Interesting... by aicrules · · Score: 2, Funny

      They got an int overflow as Flash can't handle that high a number...thus they removed the top offenders.

    2. Re:Interesting... by TaoPhoenix · · Score: 2, Funny

      Did they get an Acer Ferrari laptop from MS?

      And does OS X really have 31 flaws?

      --
      My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
  10. Wow so far everyone agrees by wolff000 · · Score: 2

    I'm sure all eat my words and someone is going to love that overly flashy page but hey for the moment we have a consensus. What i would like to know is how do these places the info is being grabbed from determine threat level? Then again I think I have gotten one virus in the past 8 years. I just don't open emails that I don't recognize and I sure as hell don't download attachements from them. Yes I know you can get virii other ways but that is the most predominant.

    --
    WTF?
  11. Another commercial /. plug by anticypher · · Score: 2, Insightful

    What a strange site. Very busy, if your machine is infested with flash, useless otherwise.

    After finding a few places on the site which claims the service is free in exchange for personal information, I found an order site that wants a US$5,000 sign up fee, plus US$1,020/year subscription. Just another commercial site that has paid /. to place an advertisement on their front page in the guise of a normal article.

    There doesn't seem to be anything there that a person responsible for security couldn't cobble together as a normal part of their job. But they only have to get a few gullible companies to sign up to earn back their hiring a couple of ADD afflicted flash developers.

    the AC

    --
    Hemos is like...sci-fi fans;he thinks technology is cool, but he hasn't bothered to understand the science it's based on
    1. Re:Another commercial /. plug by DigitalSorceress · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I don't know as I'd go so far as to claim that /. was paid for it, but it is certainly a case of advertisement in the guise of news. When I used to work for an NBC affilliate as a news photog, I had a chance to see first-hand, the constant stream of "press releases" and other crap that ended up at the news desk. They generally spiked most of it without a second thought... unless it was a really slow news day. Then, all bets were off.

      So, either it was a: slow news day, or b: flew under the radar. (Hey, if /. readers are constantly failing to rtfa, maybe the editor forgot to as well. :)

      --

      The Digital Sorceress
  12. Talisker Radar by bitshark · · Score: 2, Informative

    This is good, but this is better.

  13. Slashdot incompetence selling company incompetence by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 2, Informative

    This is another demonstration of Slashdot editor incompetence. The Slashdot story is apparently nothing but an advertisement for a commercial company formerly called Haval-Daar that seems completely incompetent and destined to fail immediately. There is apparently no connection with CERT whatsoever; the name is apparently intended only to confuse. Since the word havaldaar is apparently a Hindi word, I suppose Haval-Daar is a company started by people from India.

    Did someone at Slashdot take money to advertise this company?

    Let this be a lesson to those who spend a lot of time playing video games when they could be learning to be socially competent: If you don't learn about the people around you, you will eventually sink to the bottom of business.

    --
    U.S. government incompetence