Leader: InfoSec's appeal

There were very few attendees at InfoSecurity Europe this week who didn't appear to be genuinely energised about attending the show's 10th year.

It helps that it's possibly the IT industry's 'sexiest' - or perhaps most interesting - area and one where money and momentum never really went away, even in the darkest days of the downturn. One attendee asked this correspondent whether the impressive turnout and undeniable buzz about the place were signs the recovery is now a nailed-on certainty - that the bad old days won't return.

The truth is they were never really there for security companies in the first place - in fact many, which weren't subject to the ups and predominant downs of the stock markets, recorded some of their strongest growth during 2001 to 2003.

They rode the antivirus wave, then the anti-spam wave and now many are riding the anti-spyware wave. Throw in major changes to the way people 'do' security, a more heavily regulated business environment, more and more new companies, a large dollop of consolidation and the usual bitching and back-stabbing which go hand-in-hand with the security industry and there was always going to be something of interest here for even the most disinterested attendee.

And if that's not enough then it's inevitable you'll have started any day being handed your empty, vendor-branded bag on the way in and by the end of the day will have filled it with all manner of USB-friendly gadgetry.

Some people will always judge a show on the strength of the freebies and there were some good ones, though the Romanian liquor from BitDefender is possibly an acquired taste.

Probably the most novel freebie was a USB mug warmer. Plug it in and keep your coffee warm - though a word of warning, good freebies don't make for good coverage. Enquiries around peers who attended have all failed to conjure up the name of the vendor handing out said warmers.

And then there are the women. There are those companies that will never abandon the 'models in t-shirts' approach to attracting visitors to their stands.

Though shame on the vendor that sent out a team of stunning models to accost male visitors and enquire whether they were interested in penetration testing.

The art of the single entendre isn't dead.