Think Patience! Venafi Study in Washington Post – a Year Later!

OK, I can’t take too much credit for this but one year later, a study underwritten by Venafi to provide insight into the consumer impact of encryption problems is actually starting to get some press! 

In fact, a link to the study appeared in a Washington Post blog post by Brian Krebs yesterday
“Firefox Plug-in Offers Clarify on Web Site Security.”

According to Firefox developerJonathan Nightingale, Firefox 2′s cert warnings were too easy for users to either ignore or just hit “okay” without considering the security implications. Indeed, according to a study by Venafi security last year, at least 40 percent of all users do just that when presented with a security warning (that number is likely higher: 16 percent said they were “not sure” what they’d do).

Another example of stories taking months to appear — especially in the top tier business press — is an article I pitched for the Ethisphere Council on the “World’s Most Ethical” rankings.  I pitched the idea to the Wall Street Journal in November of 2006 and it appeared in July 2007, eight months later! 

So, the moral of this post is two-fold:

1. Be patient when trying to get coverage for your announcement.  While the study did receive some coverage last summer, including an article on Dow Jones, the appearance of a big news item such as the Firefly SSL Certificate debate makes it more timely, newsworthy and understandable for editors/bloggers you’ve been trying to target.

2. Always do your best to tie in your story idea to a timely news trend. The editors/bloggers are more likely to “get” the significance of your pitch.

Anyone have news you’ve pitched appear months (even a year) later?