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Industry News

Beyond FUD: Security, Minus the Doom and Gloom

By the time you finish reading this you’ll have been hacked, phished, DDoSed and your data will be held for ransom. And all your logins will have been stolen - kiss your savings, your identity and your credit score goodbye. The bad guys win again. Game over. Thanks for playing.

Ok, no, that’s not true. But read most security publications or vendor accounts and you’d think the sky was falling and that every breach, vulnerability or exposure is going to send the world spiraling into a Mad Max-style dystopia - even Imperator Furiosa won’t be able to save you.

It’s a common tactic. One that’s been graced the moniker of “FUD,” or fear, uncertainty and doubt. It paints the security world as a scary place in hopes that you’ll buy more security solutions so you don’t become the next company or individual in the headlines. It’s a gambit as old as the internet itself. It gives security a bad name - and makes security seem reactive.

Fear-inducing headlines like Phished! Will identity theft hit you next? float on a black background.

As an industry, we must move beyond FUD.

Removing FUD

At Duo, we strive to eliminate FUD. We talk about security in ways that are fresh, authentic and inclusive.

We don’t prey on fear. Instead, we seek to inform and enlighten. We want to make a positive impact on the world and on the industry. Yes, we sell security products. And, yes, we want you to buy them. But we don’t want to earn customers through fright. We don’t want to scare you into submission. We want to show you how security can help you work and succeed without fear. We aim for security that’s easy to use, yet effective and efficient. Security that removes the element of fear.

For example, Duo Beyond, our zero-trust security platform, gives you the ability to base application access decisions on the trust established in user identities and the trustworthiness of their devices, instead of the networks from where access originates. This lets you secure your applications without fearing what’s coming in from the outside. Instead of locking everything down out of fear and putting everything behind a perimeter, you can be confident in who has access to your systems and on what devices.

It’s security based on trust, not fear. If something isn’t right - a device’s operating system (OS) is determined to be out of date, or a user can’t properly authenticate, then access isn’t granted. What’s more, you set the policies to determine what gets in and what doesn’t - you’re not constantly startled by warnings and alerts.

It’s a way to manage security proactively. It’s an intelligent way to minimize risk.

Security Without Fear

Our belief in cutting through the FUD and getting to what really matters also led us to build and launch Decipher.sc, a site that aspires to publish “security news that informs and inspires.”

The name says it all: Decipher’s mission is to decipher what’s happening in security. Decipher doesn’t cover the breach du-jour. It doesn’t use sensational headlines to inspire fear (and illicit clicks). And it doesn’t set out to paint security as a scary place riddled with hoodie-clad hackers.

Decipher’s team of journalists and editors examines areas where security makes a difference; analyses trends; interviews the people and teams that drive the industry forward; and casts security in a positive light, not a dark shadow.

Take a look. You’ll find that Decipher is a fresh take on security news.

In the security industry, there will always be FUD. But at Duo we see it as our mission to not use scare tactics. We are the most loved company in security, not the scariest.