More ConsumerReports complaints

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Aug 30, 2006

Testing organisation's methodology slammed again.

ConsumerReports.org, the online wing of American consumers association Consumers Union, is once again taking flak for its testing of security software, but this time for erring in the other direction.

Just weeks after revelations that the company created thousands of viruses to test AV software, it has been roundly slated for a set of tests on spyware software using only Spycar, intended to be the Spyware industry's equivalent of the Eicar AV test file. However, Spycar is a spyware simulator, intended to test behaviour-based detection, and so inappropriate for the on-demand tests ConsumerReports used it for. Apparently no genuine spyware was included in the testing.

Read some of the criticism here and here.

Posted on 30 August 2006 by Virus Bulletin

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