Test company creates malware
Consumer organisation makes over 5,000 'virus variants' for AV product testing.
ConsumerReports.org, a non-profit consumer website, has announced that it created 5,500 'new virus variants
derived from six categories of known viruses', for use in a comparative test of anti-virus products. The new
malware was 'unleashed' in the testers' lab to exercise heuristic detection in the 12 products under test.
'This is likely to be a very unpopular move,' said John Hawes, Technical Consultant at Virus Bulletin. 'The AV
community has always been very strongly opposed to the creation of new malware for any purpose. There's just no
need for it - plenty of new viruses are being written all the time, why would anyone in a responsible position want
to add to the glut?'
The full results of the testing are only available to ConsumerReports.org's subscribers, but some information
about the tests has been freely released for a limited time. Read an overview of the tests,
and a description of the test methodology.
See also some comment on the tests.
15 August 2006
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