Most of the time, the livings they make are far from honest. Yet between scams such as phishing and the scourge of spam, there are clearly livelihoods to be earned.
Sadly, the fact that this is possible comes down to consumers, who are either sufficiently gullible to fall for tricks such as phishing or over-confident that threats such as spyware, malware, adware and the rest of the '-ware' family simply do not apply to them.
There is no doubt these scams and technical tricks are working. Banks are so worried about fraud caused by phishing that they are implementing new security measures for online banking and have even begun to discuss tightening liability for consumers whose Internet bank accounts are emptied by fraudsters.
The federal government has even recognised the growth in scams by creating a website (www.scamwatch.gov.au) to help alert Australians to the risks posed by scammers, online and off. The information this site contains tells you a lot about the sophistication of many Australian Internet users. The section on spam, for example, uses this very basic description: "Spam is an unsolicited (or junk) email. Spam emails usually offer free goods or 'prizes', very cheap products (including pharmaceuticals), promises of wealth or other offers that could result in you taking part in a scam."
Because such a basic definition is needed, vendors have long assumed that consumers want solutions that take away the need for them to understand much more about spam and other threats than is contained in the Scamwatch site's definition. The result is suites of products that include a firewall, anti-virus, anti-spam, anti-phishing tools and barriers that prevent the '-ware' family infecting or damaging a PC. Such suites are easy to install and operate more or less automatically, often following rules their makers baked into them. Bright interfaces with big buttons are the norm.
These suites are now evolving into other areas too. Transactional security is a feature that is starting to appear, as they seek to give consumers confidence their Internet banking and shopping experiences will not be compromised. Another element working its way into these suites is an advisory service about the safety or otherwise of different websites, while parental controls are also becoming de rigeur.
Many are also sold in SKUs that offer three licenses, with this packaging positioned as ideal for small to medium businesses and/or homes with multiple PCs.
But such products may not be entirely appropriate, because while consumers do not want to be confronted with technical detail, they do want to feel that they are in control, said Allan Bell, director of McAfee Australia.
"Consumers tend to buy one thing," he said. "The most popular category is a single install suite, because it means consumers do not have to make individual decisions about the protection they need.
"It is important to differentiate the SOHO and consumer markets," Bell added. "Home users want to be in control of their solution, because they are more privacy sensitive. Small businesses are happy to have someone else look after things for them but the consumer wants to be a hands-on manager. They want to take ownership of their safety."
Bell therefore recommends that resellers appraise themselves of the different versions of security suites before they start to consult with their clients and offers this advice because while different suites can be the same under the skin, their interface makes all the difference to the customer.
"Small offices and home offices want something the reseller can manage for them," he said. "Small businesses need someone to look after IT and security for them. They treat the reseller as the IT department."
Those selling to these markets should not restrict themselves to software. A number of hardware companies now make routers and firewalls that also include anti-virus and other security technologies. Most are remotely administrable, meaning they can give small business the hands-off experience they require.
Because these machines are network equipment, they may also create further opportunities for more work across a customer's network.
Consumer-oriented products that hand-hold small businesses through their security needs are therefore doing the job they want, but fail to do it in the way they want the job done.
And in doing so it can also deprive a reseller of an ongoing sales, maintenance and service opportunity. But that potential lost sale hints at another thing to sell consumers: education to increase their confidence.
Education is important because few consumers are aware of just how many vulnerabilities can compromise their systems.
Resellers that educate customers about the risks are likely to win their trust, which can result in increased future sales of security products and other types of product, too.
Another tactic to win consumers can be to alert them to free security solutions, a surprisingly busy category in which consumer-only versions of commercial anti-virus products from the likes of AVG and ALWIL Software. Open source anti-virus is another option, with ClamWin (clamwin.com) offering completely free security software.
Larger security vendors also offer free online tools that can scan a consumer's hard drive for viruses and also alert them to any other problems.
While this may not result in an instant sale, again it builds rapport that makes future sales more likely, given that free tools seldom provide all of the functions of the suites.
Yet with experts now advising that 'blended threats' that use several of the attacks mentioned above are becoming the most prevalent online risks, pointing out the free tools may also help you to make a sale later on as education and the experience of only partial coverage once again drives consumers towards the comprehensive suites they need to remain secure.
The Government's scamwatch site
SCAMwatch is a website run by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC). The aim of SCAMwatch is to provide information to consumers and small business about how to recognise, avoid and report scams. Scams that are reported to SCAMwatch will be analysed by the ACCC.
Many scams originate overseas or take place over the Internet, according to SCAMwatch, making them very difficult to track down and prosecute. If users lose money to a scam, it is unlikely they will be able to recover the loss. The ACCC publishes its website to help consumers recognise scams because prevention is definitely a better option when it comes to scams.
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