There is an old saying that goes “Both the doctor and the angel of death kill, but only the doctor charges for it.”
I don’t know why that came to mind when I started reading the Scanless PCI site, but maybe it has something to do with their darkly sarcastic view of assessment services.
Logically we know a service provider can not guarantee survival in the face of uncertain threats. We also know that the value of security assessments is uncertain. This is not least of all because of frequent innovation in information technology and the subsequent constantly expanding markets. Does it therefore follow that all hope is lost and absolutely no value can be assigned to a security scanning service?
It is hard not to agree in general with the humor of Scanless PCI. Humor about challenges may help people focus on them more easily and elevate the chance of improvement. But at the same time, their claims go a bit too far:
Our patent-pending scanless technology is just as effective as any PCI certification on the market…
Effective at what? I have been able to derive genuine results from their competitors. While I have lessened the likelihood of compromise for clients with scanning services, sometimes even as an incident responder, I am certain I could not do the same with Scanless PCI. Granted, “protected by” logos on webpages are annoying and add zero value in my opinion, but actual scanning does have a use and is not differentiated on their site.
Scanless PCI guarantees, in writing, that you will be just as secure from hackers and other bad guys as any other competing solution on the market.
Oh, such cute snake-oil sales charms. Very nice play on the fact that no doctor can guarantee the health of their patient. Should the patient never attend another doctor? Should a doctor offer services for free if no guarantee of survival is available? The ScanlessPCI guys make light of the fact that no one yet knows what it really means to be “secure from hackers and other bad guys”. In the same vein, no one yet knows how to live a healthy, long life (although the Blue Zones theory is an interesting new approach to measuring it).
At the end of the day, I have to put this all in focus (pun not intended). I signed a form last week that said I was willing to have corrective eye surgery even though I was told the outcome could not be predicted100%. With that in mind I did not choose someone random to do the surgery, but rather the person I believed would give me the most value for my money. Risks are to be managed carefully. Just because risks can not be tested with absolute certainty that not mean we should instead operate blindly or give a zero-cost value to anyone who tries to assist. I certainly wouldn’t trust these guys a scalpel even if they said they offer the same guarantee for health as any other doctor:
Scanless PCI – The Fastest, Least Intrusive, and Cost Effective PCI Certification Available.
Oh, and just in case you missed the fine print, here it is:
Scanless PCI is for compliance with the Pooma Card Industry Data Security Standard, and compliance with other standards or regulations is not offered nor implied.
Go out and get your Pooma Card now. I suspect they look something like this:
