Fergie's Tech Blog

Consumer Reports Slammed for Creating 'Test' Viruses

John E. Dunn writes on Techworld (UK):

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.

posted by Fergie @ 8/16/2006 02:09:00 PM