Consumer Reports has sent a response to my recent column Security Software Reviews Done Wrong, which criticized their recent story on computer security and review of security products.
This statement is from Jeff Fox, Technology Editor, Consumer Reports:
At Consumer Reports, we have always believed that scientific testing is the best way to evaluate products. We also use a statistically-valid survey methodology to measure consumer experiences. In preparing our September security reports, we employed both methods as we have for many decades. Some additional notes on this column:It's true, as I said in the column, that I didn't give them much time to respond. I hope I can make up for that some by putting this response out now and including it in the column itself.Finally, a note about your claim that Consumer Reports was invited to respond. Your e-mail to us requesting a comment was time-stamped on the same Saturday evening as your column is labeled as having posted. That left fewer than six hours to respond, on a weekend. It would have been helpful to have had more time.
- The story was not, as you state, "filled with data sourced to eMarketer." That service provided just two pieces of data, namely the current number of Internet- and broadband-using U.S. Households
- Using a separate credit card for online transactions avoids having to cancel your main card should fraud occur.
- We test software against modified versions of actual malware because such threats are what security software will often be called upon to recognize on the job.
