Hacker Safe Seal: Web Site Shield, or Target?
More than 80,000 Web sites worldwide display a small green logo that proclaims them to be “Hacker Safe.” The logo is provided to them by ScanAlert Inc., a vendor that scans the sites of its clients daily in search of security vulnerabilities. ScanAlert’s logo is the most widely used security seal of its kind on the Web, and it can be found on dozens of marquee-brand sites, including those of Johnson & Johnson, Sony Corp. and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Such widespread use attracted the attention of security vendor McAfee Inc., which in late October agreed to acquire ScanAlert. But Napa, Calif.-based ScanAlert was put on the defensive this month after online technology retailer Geeks.com warned an undisclosed number of customers that their personal and credit card data may have been compromised in a hacking incident. Geeks.com, whose formal name is Genica Corp., displays the Hacker Safe logo at the bottom of its home page. A ScanAlert spokesman said “preliminary evidence” suggests t
