False false positives

BitDefender defends reputation, three more VB100% awards granted.

Since the publication of the recent VB100% results, several of the files from the clean test set causing false positives from various vendors have been made available for deeper analysis. As a result, some changes are required to the cleanset, and to the results of the VB100%.

One file, a corrupted zip flagged as infected by the

Avira

product, has been identified as a file processed by them after a VB100% test in 2005, which should have been removed from the cleanset. The file has been confirmed as containing code of the Fosforo virus, which after careful extraction remains a working threat. Only

Avira

detected this. The remaining cleanset file alerted on by the product has been confirmed as a false positive, apparently spotted and fixed by

Avira

in late September.

The file labelled ‘suspicious’ by

Symantec

has been identified as a hacker tool, and as such will be removed from the cleanset.

The file which spoiled

BitDefender

‘s chances of an award, along with those of

GDATA

and

AEC

, (maker of

Trustport

), has also been identified as a hacker tool, detection for which was recently added to the

BitDefender

product. The file will be stricken from the cleanset, and as all three products failed only due to this issue, all are awarded the VB100%.

GDATA

also joins the elite group of products detecting 100% across all test sets. VB extends its apologies to all three companies.

A thorough review of the VB cleanset will be conducted before the next VB100% comparative, surveying products for the

Windows XP 64Bit

platform, to be published in the December 2006 issue of VB. Vendors wishing to submit products should contact John Hawes at


[email protected]


.

Posted on 06 October 2006 by

Virus Bulletin