Hacker safe

cimmeron · 09-28-2006, 06:19 AM

I came across this web site with a little 'hacker safe' button on it (see attachment). When clicked, it goes here

http://www.scanalert.com/RatingVerif...w.4inkjets.com

I've never seen this before...anyone have any experience with it? Or how does it work? I'm not a hacker, so I have no clue what they're 'scanning' for but I want to understand if this is legit or not.

littleFella · 09-28-2006, 06:49 AM

http://www.scanalert.com/Content.sa?sec=2&sub=0

I use McAffee Site Advisor instead.

cimmeron · 09-28-2006, 06:59 AM

so, it's legit and actually works? I guess that was my main question.

littleFella · 09-28-2006, 07:03 AM

It is legit but I cannot vouch for its effectiveness.

Zap · 09-28-2006, 08:05 AM

It's a load of crap. My old webhost had that pretty little logo, before and after one of my sites got hacked.

jasonpoteet · 09-28-2006, 08:32 AM

The only thing really "Hacker Safe" is your coffee mug. That logo looks more like a "come and get it sign" than anything.

Buskerdoo · 09-28-2006, 08:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cimmeron

so, it's legit and actually works? I guess that was my main question.

I've talked to their sales people before and I did some independant research. Evidently the logo does help bring in more sales. It wasn't worth it for us because their cost is high.

I don't know anything about their criteria for determining "hacker safe."

**ToddW** · 09-28-2006, 09:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buskerdoo

I've talked to their sales people before and I did some independant research. Evidently the logo does help bring in more sales. It wasn't worth it for us because their cost is high.

I don't know anything about their criteria for determining "hacker safe."

I called them to get info for a client who wanted it on their site and hackersafe NEVER called me back...

But yeah - it's for consumers... helping you get sales.

cimmeron · 09-28-2006, 10:32 AM

ok, thanks guys. I thought it might be more like a 'see, I'm legitimate and safe' type of thing rather than something that would actually work, if you see what I mean....

StupidScript · 09-28-2006, 11:44 AM

Apparently they do daily penetration testing targeted at the servers of those who subscribe to their service, and the logo appears when the results of that testing are within a certain range of 'success'. It's difficult to tell how aggressive their testing is, but if they find a site has become 'unsafe', the logo won't display.

As far as displaying the logo at all, it's a kind of visitor assurance thing to help them feel more comfortable with giving the site their credit card info.

It strikes me as a little odd that they don't also have the logo of whatever service they obtained their SSL certificate from, Verisign or whoever. Maybe such a logo is too meaningless to their visitors, and they prefer simply being told that the site is 'hacker safe', implying that their cc data won't be stolen ... too easily.