Consumer Reports Slammed for Creating 'Test' Viruses

["Fergie" <fergdawg () netzero net>]

Via Techworld (UK).

[snip]

A consumer magazine has been condemned for possibly adding to the virus
problem by creating a series of "test" viruses just to review
anti-virus scanners.

In an act that has long been considered technical taboo, US-based
consumer affairs organisation, ConsumerReports.org, decided to generate
5,500 "test" viruses to run, under lab conditions, against 12 leading
anti-virus software products.

The organisation’s own website describes the methodology used: "To pit
the software against novel threats not identified on signature lists,
we created 5,500 new virus variants derived from six categories of
known viruses, the kind you’d most likely encounter in real life."

The organisation said it had enlisted the help of Independent Security
Evaluators (ISE), an external consultancy, to help design the tests and
ensure they matched real-world conditions.

[snip]

More:
http://www.techworld.com/news/index.cfm?NewsID=6658

- ferg


--
"Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson
 Engineering Architecture for the Internet
 fergdawg(at)netzero.net
 ferg's tech blog: http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/


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