• by Ray Schultz , December 18, 2019

Companies are wildly suspicious of their cybersecurity providers, according to Hype, Hope and Cybersecurity, a new study by Valimail.

Of the security pros surveyed, 53% say most or all vendors use unclear, opaque, and ambiguous data when selling their products.

While 42% of those surveyed feel cybersecurity products “sometimes” provide value, it s impossible to prove it. And 44% say "most or all vendors obfuscate their tech.” 

Worse, the vendors fail to keep their promises 47% of the time, and rarely call to check in after closing sales.

We’re talking about big money -- 55% spend $100,000 on each new tool or service.  

In addition, 49% gripe that vendors share little to no reliable information about product roadmaps and how they will fare in a future cybersecurity landscape.

Yet 72% are concerned about email-based threats. And 48% are likely to buy a product combat business email compromise (BEC) attack.

The bottom line is that the industry is not keeping pace with the bad guys — and that is bad for everyone.,” states David Appelbaum, chief marketing officer at Valimail.

“Trying to hold vendors accountable is difficult,” adds Chris Cravens, founding CIO of Uber and Zynga.“It is tied to the sensationalism of product development.”

Vailimail, an email security firm, surveyed 296 IT security professionals.