CERTStation Threat-Level Aggregator

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!"

If it would only just *tell* me

[milo_a_wagner]

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.

Flash and gravity

[Toby The Economist]

> 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.

Virus checker companies

[sdo1]

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

FUGLY

[LorenzoV]

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.

Another commercial /. plug

[anticypher]

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

Re:Because we all know...

[fotbr]

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.