Tenable's response to folks upset at AWOL features: A 150-emails-a-minute spam storm

Nessus Pro V7 launch fiasco

Tenable Security has given itself two problems, by releasing a product its users don't like, and then adding them all to a support email group that's sending uncomfortable volumes of messages.

The new product is Nessus Professional v7, which Tenable has declared is just fabulous thanks to new licensing, improved reports, and customization features.

However, the release also withdrew some features, leading to responses such as this:

Wow, removed api, removed multi-user support.. Just the features I was waiting for!

I am officially looking for a good vulnerability scanner, what does people recommend?

— Hans-Petter Fjeld (@atluxity) December 12, 2017

It gets worse: as part of the effort to spread the word about Nessus Pro 7, Tenable appears to have added all Nessus customers to a support forum that spewed out email at as much as 150 messages a minute, for over an hour. The result of that effort is typified by the tweets below...

@TenableSecurity thank you for subscribing me to some group that has blown up my email. Nice to see who ALL your other customers are! WTF give me a break!

— Chris W (@EMTFireman) December 12, 2017

Hey @TenableSecurity thanks for the automatic poll sign up and neverending email spam

— dR3 (@havok0x90) December 12, 2017

Tenable responded by saying it erred when making a new group:

150 messages a minute.

— David Byers (@david_byers_swe) December 12, 2017

The Register has been told by Tenable sources that no personally identifiable information was exposed. We have also asked Tenable why it removed Nessus Pro features that folks liked. If further comment is forthcoming, we will update this story. ®