Two Black Hat Talks On Apple Security Cancelled 125
An anonymous reader writes "Two separate Apple security talks have been nixed at the last minute from next week's Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas. The Washington Post's Security Fix blog reports that Apple researcher Charles Edge was to present on flaws in Apple's FileVault encryption plan, but asked Black Hat to cancel the talk, citing confidentiality agreements with Apple. Then on Friday, Apple pulled its security engineering team out of a planned public discussion on the company's security practices — which would have been a first for Apple. 'Marketing got wind of it, and nobody at Apple is ever allowed to speak publicly about anything without marketing approval,' a Black Hat spokesman said."
Marketing? (Score:5, Insightful)
Sounds like the marketing policy is "pretend there are no security issues". Hey, it seems to work.
Sounds very logic to me. (Score:4, Insightful)
From a managements and sharehold perspective I think it's quite normal and understandable of Apple creating such a policy.
A self-acclaimed public spokesperson respresenting your company about a subject without prior permission?
You must be a veteran here but new on the job market.
Shhh, if we don't admit anything (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Marketing? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Sounds very logic to me. (Score:5, Insightful)
From a managements and sharehold perspective I think it's quite normal and understandable of Apple creating such a policy.
For a term holder then yes, but if you are a long term, then bad PR like this isn't desirable for company image over the course of several years.
Besides, just because you don't disclose the exploit, doesn't mean it goes away.
Re:Sounds very logic to me. (Score:5, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Marketing? (Score:4, Insightful)
When product issues come up, auto makers must make their shortcomings public
Um, no. Recalls are a business strategy like any other. The lawyers sit down with the accountants, figure out total costs for a recall and a class-action lawsuit, and pick the cheaper of the two.
You'd be shocked to find out how often the lawsuit actually ends up cheaper. That's largely because class-action settlements have a very narrow scope, and only a small portion of the customer base will actually join the class.
Re:Marketing? (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple is quiet about everything. This is not a case of Apple trying to cover up security problems, it's merely that Apple talkes about nothing, ever, and that includes security policies.
The sad thing is (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Marketing? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Marketing? (Score:2, Insightful)
Idiot.
Re:Marketing? (Score:2, Insightful)
thats because job's is a egomaniac. any flaw means there was a mistake and egomaniacs think they never make mistakes.
Re:Steve is not impressed (Score:5, Insightful)
My points were that if Apple is really more secure than Vista, Apple would welcome a thorough investigation of its OS.
Probably. But do take into account that the engineers (i.e., the people who actually KNOW the technical details) WANTED to have the discussion.
The decision to cancel it came from marketing, those who don't understand the technical details but are reasonably afraid that someone might pull a rabbit from their hat and make Macs look bad.
Re:Marketing? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:The sad thing is (Score:3, Insightful)
Now, that's no dig at Apple's products