ScanVerify.com - vulnerability scanning - what is it and why do you need it?

By S. Bronstein

3/16/2008

ScanVerify.com - a hackersafe and buysafe alternative

ABSTRACT

Hackersafe is a service of ScanAlert, an Internet security company. They perform vulnerability scanning of websites daily, also providing the owners of these websites with a clickable site seal to "certify" their enrollment in the program. Their average price is about $1700 per year (based on ScanVerify.com user survey from February 2008). ScanVerify provides the same type of vulnerability scanning, plus merchant background checking, internet based emailer, product search engine (BuyVerify.com) for a much lower price.

BENEFITS OF WEB SEALS

Internet is a great place for commerce. However, as most people know, fraud on the Internet is rampant. Website seals, such as the one from ScanVerify.com, provide assurance to consumers that merchants they are dealing with have been verified by a third party. Today, pretty much anyone with an internet connection and a bit of web design skills can build an online store. Consumers have to be careful who they trust their personal information to. Web seals boost sales and revenue for online merchants, because more confident consumers results in more sales. Ensuring consumer confidence is especially imporant for first time buyers.

PROBLEMS WITH HACKERSAFE

1) High cost.

Hackersafe caters mostly to small merchants that are trying to build consumer confidence, yet their price of $1700/yr is not affordable for anyone.

2) Daily scanning

As far as vulnerability scanning goes, this is not practical for all but the most important networks with very sensitive data, such as banks. Yet those organizations do not and will not use the Hackersafe service, because they have their own security experts working for them full time. Daily scans are not needed for most websites, because their security conditions do not change daily. A vulnerability scan would be in order after a software or hardware update or any other change in their structure. Hackersafe daily scans simply waste system resources and make the cost of the service higher.

3) False claims

Hackersafe claims to protect against 99.9% of hacker attacks, yet there has been a large number of sites, whose security was compromised while they were enrolled in the Hackersafe program. A vulnerability scan is only a tool to be used by the site administrator in asessing potential security risks. A lot depends on the site administrators knowledge in interpreting scan results and implementing the necessary security measures. Buysafe.com claims to offer a $25,000 bond guarantee if something goes wrong with a transaction they covered. This is simply unrealistic, and I doubt they will ever come through with this kind of guarantee. The potential for fraud is simply too great here and BuySafe.com will never be able to fully investigate internet transactions, especially for smaller amounts. ScanVerify.com will never make any misleading claims about our service, we simply state that our webseal and scan are tools to help merchants and consumers assess potential risks.

SCANVERIFY.COM DOES MORE

Buyverify.com only provides a webseal and an unrealistic $25,000 guarantee. Hackersafe only provides vulnerability scanning. Both charge exhorbiant prices, and do not post openly post their fees. The setup process is complicated in both cases and cannot be done online instantly. ScanVerify.com openly posts fees in the prices section and offers much more than just a webseal. You can advertise your products on BuyVerify.com, conduct email campaigns with our Emailer!, run vulnerability scans whenever you want, and tell your customers that your business background and details such as email, phone and address have been verified. We are very easy to reach by either email or phone.