BullsIT Awards lambaste security double-talk, spin

Here’s a new twist on Top 10 lists: Nick Selby today published his first annual BullsIT Awards to highlight outstanding achievements in double-talk, spin, and bad grammar by IT security vendors and their publicists.

Selby, who leads enterprise security research at industry analyst firm The 451 Group and is known to speak his mind at industry events, published his BullsIT Awards on his personal blog. The list contains quotes and snippets from conversations that Selby had this year with members of the security industry -- ranging from PR reps to CEOs -- none of which flatter the vendors.

In his list, Selby points out vendor gaffes and, in some cases, offers a correction. For example, one security-vendor CEO referred to his company’s “secret sauce” when he no doubt meant “special sauce,” a term made famous by McDonald’s in a jingle for its Big Mac hamburger.

Nuggets of advice to vendors also are included. One example: the life lesson that you won’t get your way by bullying someone, evoked when a publicist asked Selby why he refused to use the marketing term coined by the publicist’s client to describe a product category, and wondered if Selby was just being difficult. Selby calls this the “Mussolini school of persuasive argument.”

Selby describes his Web site -- which he stresses does not represent the views of his employer -- as “. . . the leading, best-of-breed personal website of Nick Selby. It provides a tightly integrated, end-to-end solution to stakeholders who seek information about thought leader and domain expert Nick Selby. It is committed to establishing greater transparency and access to information.”