One perfume wants to be the next weapon against cybersecurity attacks
Kaspersky is a company that creates software to protect homes and businesses from viruses and internet threats and now they will also be making perfume.
The company is partnered with Scarlett London, a well-known fashion and lifestyle blogger based in the U.K. Together, they have created a dialogue around the importance of cybersecurity and just how devastating a cyberattack can be for those who are not properly protected.
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Threat de Toilette, the perfume line, is supposed to serve as a symbolic, physical reminder that you need to protect yourself online. Kaspersky claims that the scents smell 'like fear,' not in actuality, but in an effort to make people aware of cybersecurity risks.
That being said, they didn't provide a solid description of what the perfumes smell like.
The idea of a perfume line inspired by cybersecurity sounds ridiculous, and indeed some are raking Kaspersky over the coals for this strange marketing scheme, but the message is more or less sincere.
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"Fear is no longer felt only in the physical world – it's all around us in our connected lives too and we need to make sure we're constantly protected," Kaspersky's principal security researcher, David Emm, said about the perfume, according to The Register. "The men and women who wear Threat de Toilette understand today's online threats and protect themselves against them."
The Register also reports that Threat de Toilette comes in multiple different scents, such as Social Enginoir, Mal-wear and Phish.
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Whether or not you think a perfume that purportedly smells of "fear" will get the job done, it's definitely on brand for bloggers like London who do heavily rely on the internet to advance their career. Internet security is also definitely something we don't think enough about, especially given the amount that we all rely on it for work and play.
So perhaps the question we should be asking is not, "Is this perfume stupid?" but is instead, "What does phishing smell like?"
Your guess is as good as ours.
Topics Beauty Cybersecurity
Christine is a Web Culture Intern at Mashable. She has previously written for FanSided and Saturday Down South. She has a B.A. from the University of California, San Diego and an M.S. from Hunter College. Before she started writing, she worked in education as a teacher and school leader for four years. Her special talents include being able to quote The Office on command, playing non-stop Overwatch for hours, and composing only the wittiest of Tweets (her own opinion).
