Fighting malware and spam

Virus Bulletin

Virus Bulletin started in 1989 as a magazine dedicated to providing PC users with a regular source of intelligence about computer viruses, their prevention, detection and removal, and how to recover programs and data following an attack.

Virus Bulletin quickly became the leading specialist publication in the field of viruses and related malware.

Editorial independence has always been VB's prime concern. From the very first issue, VB has cut through the hype and remained uninfluenced by vendors' sales pitches and marketing babble. The aim of the magazine is to arm users with all the information they need to stay current with the latest developments in the anti-malware field.

The inaugural VB conference took place in 1991, its objectives were to present factual information about computer viruses, to demonstrate defensive procedures, to discuss probable future virus developments and countermeasures and to attempt to harmonise research efforts.

While the scope of the VB conference has widened to include all forms of malware and spam, the principal objectives of the conference remain unchanged today: to present factual information, demonstrate defensive procedures and discuss future developments and countermeasures, while providing an opportunity for experts in the anti-malware arena to share their research interests, discuss methods and technologies and set new standards, as well as meet with - and learn from - those who put their technologies into practice in the real world. Indeed, the VB conference has become a major highlight of the anti-malware calendar, with many of its regular attendees citing it as the anti-malware event of the year.

For many years, Virus Bulletin has carried out independent comparative testing of anti-virus products. The unique VB100 certification scheme is widely recognized within the industry. Unlike other certification schemes, Virus Bulletin tests all products free of charge and does not allow re-testing - performances are reported exactly as they are found. In 2009 a new testing concept was introduced to Virus Bulletin's anti-malware tests, the RAP tests putting products' heuristic and generic detection abilities through their paces. 2009 also sees the introduction of Virus Bulletin's anti-spam comparative testing. VB will use the experience gained during more than a decade of anti-malware comparative testing to run a regular and independent anti-spam product test.

The people behind Virus Bulletin

Virus Bulletin is staffed by a small, hard-working team based in its offices in Oxfordshire, UK. Supporting the core team are a consultant Technical Editor and an Advisory Board comprising some of the world's leading anti-malware and anti-spam experts.

Helen Martin - Editor

After leaving Oxford University with a degree in Biology Helen became involved in the publishing industry. Starting out on academic journals in the fields of molecular biology, organometallic chemistry and materials science at Oxford University Press, followed by Elsevier Science, she then moved on to the more colourful and upbeat publication Audio Media - a trade magazine for the professional audio industry - and helped to start up Audio Media USA. After three years in the pro audio industry Helen moved into publishing on the Internet and worked for 19 months on the UK's leading online magazine for expectant and new parents, babyworld.co.uk. Helen took up the position of Editor of Virus Bulletin in June 2001, since when she has had overall responsibility for the company's publications, events and testing activities. Helen Martin can be contacted at helen.martin@virusbtn.com.

John Hawes - Technical Consultant & Test Team Director

John Hawes joined the VB team as Virus Bulletin's Technical Consultant in July 2006. John has responsibility for running Virus Bulletin's comparative reviews, which feature the unique VB100 award scheme for anti-virus products and the RAP tests which put products' heuristic and generic detection technology to the test. John also carries out standalone reviews of anti-malware products and is responsible for putting together VB's monthly virus prevalence tables as well as further developing and updating the company's testing procedures. John Hawes can be contacted at john.hawes@virusbtn.com.

Martijn Grooten - Web Developer & Anti-spam Test Director

Martijn Grooten has a degree in mathematics from the Radboud University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands. He worked for the university as a researcher in algebraic geometry for five years before moving to England in the autumn of 2006. Here he decided to make web development, which until then had been a hobby, his profession. Martijn joined Virus Bulletin at the beginning of 2007. His responsibilities include maintaining and developing the website and related technologies. Since late 2008 Martijn has also taken on responsibility for conducting Virus Bulletin's comparative reviews of anti-spam products. Martijn Grooten can be contacted at martijn.grooten@virusbtn.com.

Simon Bates - Security Test Engineer

Simon's background is in system development and software engineering. After studying at the University of the West of England, he joined the Virus Bulletin team in September 2008 as a Security Test Engineer, helping out in the VB test lab. As well as an interest in the development of distributed web systems and an involvement with several open-source client projects, Simon's main passion is moderating various online communities. His involvement with malware goes back 20 years to early polymorphic viruses on 68000 platforms. Simon Bates can be contacted at simon.bates@virusbtn.com.

Allison Sketchley - Sales Executive

Having spent the majority of her working life in finance, and with the previous 7.5 years spent in credit control, Allison decided in 2007 to broaden her horizons to include sales. Allison joined Virus Bulletin in March 2007 and is responsible for the sales function for the whole suite of VB products and services including subscriptions, conference sponsorship, conference delegate places, VB100 licensing and VB's anti-spam test participation. Of the move to sales she felt it would make a refreshing change to contact people without having to demand payment all of the time. Though, lest she forget her finance roots, she also maintains the accounting side of VB's operations. Allison Sketchley can be contacted at allison.sketchley@virusbtn.com.

Morton Swimmer - Consultant Technical Editor

Morton Swimmer was born in New York City and raised there and in Hamburg, Germany. After a year studying in England, he went back to Hamburg to study computer security under Prof. Brunnstein, where in 1988, he co-founded the Virus Test Center. He started an anti-virus business in 1991, which was bought by S&S International UK, and later swallowed by Network Associates. Then in 1996, Morton joined IBM Research in New York to work on IBM Antivirus, which was bought a few years later by Symantec. The next switch was to IBM Research in Zurich, Switzerland to research the applicability of intrusion detection techniques in the anti-virus field with one of the world's leading research groups in intrusion detection. Somewhere along the way he got both his Bachelor and Diploma degrees, and is currently finalizing his PhD thesis on Malware intrusion detection.

Morton Swimmer can be contacted at teched@virusbtn.com

Poll

Malware Prevalence

Dropper-misc
Waledac
Agent
NetSky
Invoice