Fighting malware and spam

Virus Bulletin announces new anti-spam certification scheme

Independent security testing body to certify anti-spam products.

Virus Bulletin has launched a new anti-spam certification scheme.

Until now, end-users have had little factual information available about the performance of the various different spam filters. Now, Virus Bulletin 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.

Virus Bulletin's tests will enable users to check the performance claims made by anti-spam product vendors as well as give an overview of the products' ongoing performance over a period of time.

The tests will also provide useful information about the effectiveness of different spam-filtering methods: as different filters use different methods, the tests will implicitly compare these as well. This information will be valuable for the anti-spam industry as a whole.

Virus Bulletin has been testing and certifying anti-malware products for more than ten years in the VB100 certification scheme. The VB100 award is highly regarded within the anti-malware industry and something all vendors strive to achieve. Now, the VB anti-spam certification will fulfil a similar role in the anti-spam industry.

Helen Martin, Editor of Virus Bulletin, said: "We feel strongly that there is a need for a robust and comprehensive anti-spam certification scheme and that our background stands us in good stead to run such a scheme. We are looking forward to publishing the first set of results."

The detailed results of the tests will be published regularly in Virus Bulletin online magazine (available only to Virus Bulletin subscribers), and a summary of the results will be published on www.virusbtn.com (available free of charge to all registered users of the website).

The test will be performed in parallel and will require the use of a separate machine for each product. A charge will be made for each product entered in the tests. However, there will be no charge for the testing of products that are available entirely free of charge, open-source and that contain no in-product advertising.

Testing will begin this month - vendors interested in submitting their products for review should contact martijn.grooten@virusbtn.com.

08 January 2009

Tags: anti-spam, certification, spam, testing.    del.icio.us   digg this

4 comments

Is it possible for vendors/every one to know the methodology you would apply for this testing?

by David Fu, 09 January 2009, 02:48

David,

yes that is possible. Please contact us (martijn.grooten@virusbtn.com) if you're interested.

Martijn / Virus Bulletin

by Martijn Grooten, 09 January 2009, 09:16

"Contact me if you're interested" is not the option. If you're pretending to be certifying authority, you must show your ability to become it, and clear certification procedure and testing scheme are the must. Otherwise it looks pretty like an attempt to gain a bit more money in rainy days.

by Seva Gluschenko, 15 January 2009, 11:02

Seva,

the proposed guidelines have been published in this month's Virus Bulletin magazine. Moreover, anyone who is interested, no matter whether they're working for an anti-spam company, doing research in anti-spam or just know quite a bit about the matter, can contact us for a copy of the article. Using the many feedback we have received we are amending the guidelines and they will be published on this site for anyone to read. Of course, people will then still be able to contact us with comments, suggestions or questions.

We strongly believe in being open about the testing procedure. Only then will the tests give meaningful results.

Martijn / Virus Bulletin

by Martijn Grooten, 16 January 2009, 13:02

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