When computer viruses strike, and pundits begin reciting the economic impact, where do they pull those numbers from? Possibly from thin air.
Michael Erbschloe, vice president of research at Computer Economics, said that the company tabulates virus cleanup and damage costs from information provided by its clients, antiviral applications vendors and systems administrators.
Erbschloe refused to name the specific sources for the data, saying that much of this information is provided off the record.
[…] “Erbschloe says that the company uses valid microeconomic data, but he won’t make it available so that people can analyze and critique it,” said Rob Rosenberger of virus information site vMyths. “Nor will he adequately explain his collection methodology or adequately explain his extrapolation model.”
“When I speak to the press, they openly admit a simple truth — they must turn to Erbschloe for virus damage guesstimates. No one else will prostitute the dollar figures reporters and antivirus vendors so desperately crave.”
Alas, like so many other things in the computer realm (e.g., RoI on the latest hot PC), these sorts of dollar figures seem to be a lot hazier than they sound.
(Via Boing Boing)