Clubbing Seals: Exploring the Ecosystem of Third-party Security Seals

[blackbird34]

(http://arstechnica.com/security/) Sites certified as secure often more vulnerable to hacking, scientists find
I found the title of the paper hilarious.

http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/12/sites-certified-as-secure-often-morevulnerable-to-hacking-scientists-find/

[coldcritter64]

I found the title of the paper hilarious. Yes, it certainly got my attention when used here. Very witty title. :)

Also a fascinating read. Something I've wondered about in the past when seen; I have always been skeptical on sites that display such "assurances" to customers.

The "hacker proof" one when I first saw it used cracked me up laughing; I was imagining the site waving a red flag in front of a mad bull. A bit like a "come on, have a go" sort of challenge to crackers ... never a smart move. Good find that, cheers :).

[bashiergui]

The whole article was hilarious. That the malware and vulnerability laden fake site got a seal was brilliant.

I've always thought those seals were like placing a locked padlock on the ground next to the gate.

[sffvba[e0rt]

I for one can't find much humour in the title of the article :/

[coldcritter64]

I for one can't find much humour in the title of the article :/
Understandable considering the unfortunate imagery the first part can bring into the readers mind. It did catch my eye very quickly here for that reason, but the second part "Exploring the Ecosystem of Third-party Security Seals" immediately got me looking further.

I can see the title as witty in respect to what the scientists in the report are looking into, with the use of Security Seals on websites.
The researchers could be said to "be clubbing" the use of "those seals" when exposing the security practices they did in the report; that is what I mean by witty in the use of the term "clubbing seals" only.
Regards, coldcritter64