Off-Topic: Marketing Scam of the Year

Okay, I promised to keep my off-topic posts to a minimum, but something has come up that I just can't be quiet about. Many ZoneAlarm users woke up yesterday to see this warning from ZoneAlarm about the ZeuS.Zbot.aoaq trojan.

I've used ZoneAlarm since 2001 and I trust the company, so I immediately clicked on "See threat details". That directed me to a web page that told me proudly that no anti-virus programs can detect ZeuS.Zbot.aoaq except for ZoneAlarm's Internet Security Suite which would cost me $19.95. They even included a comparison chart by an independent company called VirusTotal.

I've used the free version of Avast for years, so I was shocked to see that it doesn't recognise ZeuS.Zbot.aoaq . So I decided to look closer. The test is of Avast 4.8.1351.0. I checked my version number to see if there had been a last minute update, and my version is 5.0.677. I couldn't remember when I last updated, so I did a little research. Avast 5 was released on January 29th 2010. So ZoneAlarm is effectively saying "Our brand new software can detect trojans that last year's versions of our competitors can't."

I can't begin to say how angry I am that ZoneAlarm could stoop low enough to use false information about the ZeuS.Zbot.aoaq threat as a cheap marketing trick. They're trying to scare their customers by telling lies about other companies. I've been reading blogs and tech forums since yesterday, and the backlash is great. Normally forum discussions go back and forth, but I haven't read one single post agreeing with ZoneAlarm or defending their warning. Their firewall is now gone from my computer. I shall never use ZoneAlarm software again.