Who would have thought that an initiative aimed at increasing the accuracy and relevance of anti-malware testing would be quite so controversial?

Well, it was to be expected that AMTSO (the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization) would generate a certain amount of controversy: clearly, the organization is not going to get everything right first time. And what is "right" anyway? It's to be expected that anything AMTSO does will inspire some disagreement.

But it does surprise me that so much criticism centres round the organization's right to exist at all, or the right of security vendors and/or testers to play a part in its activities.

That discussion will, I'm sure, continue. And in the interest of transparency, I've launched an "AMTSO in the Media" page subsidiary to the AMTSO blog page, should you feel the urge to follow it.

*Apologies to John Leyden for plagiarizing - but adapting - his play on words...

David Harley CITP FBCS CISSP
ESET Sr. Research Fellow