By Joe Wells, CTO of Lavasoft ABCall them shortcuts. Call them rules of thumb. Call them heuristics. Herein I will call them triggers.

We all have these triggers, we all use them, and, in fact, we all need them to survive in today’s world. Robert Cialdini gives an excellent description of these triggers in his book “Influence: Science and Practice.” He writes:

“You and I exist in an extraordinarily complicated environment, easily the most rapidly moving and complex that has ever existed on this planet. To deal with it we need shortcuts. We can’t be expected to recognize and analyze all the aspects in each person, event, and situation we encounter in even one day. We haven’t the time, energy, or capacity for it. Instead we must very often use our stereotypes, our rules of thumb, to classify things according to a few key features and then to respond to them without thinking when one or another of these features is present.”¹

The above description involves good triggers; the ones we need to survive and thrive in today’s world. However, when these automatic responses are exploited against us, they become bad triggers.

The “science” of exploiting triggers is called social engineering; though it has many other names: influence, persuasion, deception, propaganda, marketing, advertising, etc. Cialdini contrasts good triggers and bad triggers:

“Most individuals in our culture have developed a set of trigger features for compliance, that is, a set of specific pieces of information that normally tell us when compliance with a request is likely to be correct and beneficial. Each of these trigger features for compliance can be used like a weapon (of influence) to stimulate people to agree to requests.”²

But if we’re dependent on automatically responding to triggers, how can we effectively recognize and counter bad triggers?

While there are other ways to counter bad triggers, I will describe one example method, which I developed. It involves adding a new, good trigger based on skepticism.

For some years now, I’ve been experimenting on my family. When watching television, I point out examples of social engineering in advertising.

Take for example, the common phrase “no product is better.” While people often take this to mean the advertised product is “best” my son now immediately points out that it means all the competing products are all equal. “If their product is the best, they’d say it’s the best.” He also triggers on specific words in claims as in “Emerging science suggests that Zap-o-Zit may reduce acne.” He often spots the phrases “results may vary” and “results not typical” in advertising’s fine print.

Such simple recognition based on skepticism has, for my family, mapped directly to our daily computer-based routines. Claims that trigger skepticism are now automatically suspect both on television or online.

Of course the key does not lie in this or any other specific method. It lies in knowing these bad triggers exist, in understanding how they work, and in methodically treating all claims with a modicum of healthy skepticism.

¹ & ² Influence: Science and Practice (4th Edition), Robert B. Cialdini, pages 7 and 17.

For Immediate Release:

Gothenburg, Sweden (August 28, 2007)

Pioneer anti-spyware company Lavasoft today announced the release of the Microsoft Vista^TM compatible version of Ad-Aware 2007.

“Many of our customers have already made the transition to the Windows Vista^TM operating system, and they depend on Ad-Aware to continue to protect them from online threats,” said Lavasoft’s CEO Jason King. “Vista is great for consumer usability, but like its predecessors, it comes with security flaws, leaving computer users vulnerable to cyber threats and crime.”

In July, Microsoft COO Kevin Turner announced that Vista had already sold 60 million copies since the launch at the end of January 2007. This latest version of Ad-Aware provides compatibility for Vista^TM (32 bit). To ensure that the product was compatible without relying solely on the self-interpretation of ‘works with Windows Vista^TM’, developers at Lavasoft took advantage of the Vista-Ready program offered at the Microsoft headquarters.

“We traveled to the United States to develop from within the Microsoft offices, which gave us a great advantage with quick turnaround for any Vista compatibility questions we posed,” stated senior developer at Lavasoft, Lennart Lundqvist. “The team at Microsoft is focused on transitioning software applications for the Vista platform, and as a result we have a compatible product to respond to our own customer’s needs.”

The Vista version is available to existing customers through the web update program within Ad-Aware 2007. New customers can visit www.lavasoft.com for more information.

About Lavasoft

Founded in 1999, Lavasoft is “the original anti-spyware company”, with over a quarter of a billion downloads worldwide for the Ad-Aware product. A private company headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, Lavasoft provides security solutions for individual consumers and enterprise clients alike. Lavasoft has 4,000 partners in 120 countries.

For further information, please contact Michael Helander, Director of Communications at Lavasoft, at +46 733 18 45 63 or at press@lavasoft.com.

On Monday, September 3, anti-spyware pioneer Lavasoft is releasing its first new products in over two years:

Lavasoft Digital Lock – File Encryptor
Lavasoft File Shredder
Lavasoft Privacy Toolbox (a combination of the Lock and Shredder tools)

Important: Please do not release your information before 12 noon Central European Time (the official time of the product release).

We are happy to provide you with the required information to begin selling and promoting these products as our valued partner.

Product information and graphics:
http://www.lavasoft.com/company/press/press_pack_toolbox.php

All three of these new products are Vista certified and there is also a 30 day full trial available for all products.

As mentioned earlier, this is the first new products released in over two years, and there is certainly a change in the air at Lavasoft which we are all very excited about. We have recently had a change of CEO, for those who are not aware please check out our press release at http://www.lavasoft.com/company/press/archive/20070723.php

There are also more security products scheduled for release in the following months and we will keep you informed as things progress. Also, you will also be seeing some big changes in our Partner Program over the next 12 months and you will certainly be hearing more from Lavasoft as we continue to move forward.