The term snake oil is often used to describe cryptography that does not actually provide the level of security that its proponents claim. The origin of the term is somewhat unclear, but one story is that it can be traced back to one of the traditional remedies for joint pain and inflammation that was brought to the US in the nineteenth century by Chinese immigrants. The fat from Chinese water snakes is high in eicosapentaenic acid (EPA), which has been shown to have some medicinal properties, so there may be some basis for believing that the traditional remedy actually had useful effects. Like the effects of many medications, however, the benefits from the traditional snake oil were subtle and varied significantly from person to person, making it difficult to rigorously prove the effectiveness of the remedy. . The link for this article located at IT Observer is no longer available. . The world of cryptography is fraught with dubious claims, resulting in a snake oil contagion within security practices that misleads organizations seeking protection. Cryptography Analysis,Safety Claims,Skeptical Insights,Threat Perception. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
Why ``snake oil''? The term is used in many fields to denote something sold without consideration of its quality or its ability to fulfill its vendor's claims. This term originally applied to elixirs sold in traveling medicine shows. The salesmen . . .. Why ``snake oil'? The term is used in many fields to denote something sold without consideration of its quality or its ability to fulfill its vendor's claims. This term originally applied to elixirs sold in traveling medicine shows. The salesmen would claim their elixir would cure just about any ailment that a potential customer could have. Listening to the claims made by some crypto vendors, ``snake oil' is a surprisingly apt name. Superficially, it is difficult to distinguish snake oil from the Real Thing: all encryption utilities produce garbled output. The purpose of this document is to present some simple ``red flags' that can help you detect snake oil. The link for this article located at RootPrompt is no longer available. . Why ``snake oil'? The term is used in many fields to denote something sold without consideration of . ``snake, oil'', fields, denote, something, without, consideration. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
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