by Tom Foremski for SiliconValleyWatcher

I ran into a an interesting security company called Green Border at one of the RSA Security conference events. They put a green border around IE and Outlook and this shows that those apps are protected from all types of spyware etc.

I was told that the green border around the apps is there so that it shows users it is working, and that they are safe. Oh, and BTW, it never changes colors, it is always green.

Wow. And will people really buy that? A green border…it is either genius marketing or something else.

Update: I may have been a little bit unfair in the above piece, I spoke with Green Border and they said it was possible to change the color of the border(!)

But, I also found out that there is a bit more to the product. What it does is it isolates the IE web browser and Outlook email within a “vault” and prevents any spyware, cookies, or viruses from escaping and infecting the host machine or network. After each user session, all the cookies, spyware etc, are flushed from the “vault.”

It’s a solution that doesn’t need any updating of a spyware/pests file, or virus scanner. Pests can get into the “vault” but they can’t check out your user habits across Internet sessions. Excellent for enterprises, which have woken up to the fact that the spyware problem is worse than the virus problem.

However, Green Border’s business model means there is no subscription or renewal revenue to be had—once its installed, you are done.

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I met a couple of security geeks that work for a large, privately-held Adult entertainment company. "We get more attacks per hour than many financial institutions," they were saying. "We buy security products and we also have our own ways of dealing with security."

I said the adult industry doesn't get the credit it should get for developing an astounding array of online marketing techniques that are now taken for granted. All the pop-ups, affiliate marketing etc, all pioneered by the online Adult entertainment companies.

I also said that the Adult companies are often the victims of minor scams by their customers, who can claim the credit card charge on their statements was hijacked and get a charge-back.

They said they didn't have to deal with that issue because they were mostly focused on the Japanese Adult market. And that their Japanese customers are very honest people, and huge consumers of their services, with some of them racking up monthly bills of $10K and more.