Virus Bulletin tests for the unknown

RAP will check the ability of anti-malware products to detect unknown malware samples

Security testing publication Virus Bulletin has come out with a new set of tests for anti-malware products.

The group best known for its VB100 test has unveiled what it calls a Reactive And Proactive (RAP) test.

RAP will check the ability of anti-malware products to detect and accurately identify new and unknown malware samples. The series of four tests will use malware samples collected within the previous three weeks.

The aim of the test is to more accurately gauge the effectiveness of newer heuristic detection techniques which identify malicious code based on its behaviour rather than an archived signature.

The use of heuristics is becoming much more common, and vendors such as BitDefender and Symantec are using them as a way to combat outbreaks of previously unknown malware samples.

RAP will supplement the existing VB100 test, which pits anti-malware products against a collection of known malware programs circulating on the internet.

The VB100 was one of the most respected performance marks, but has fallen out of favour in recent years for what many vendors and security analysts see as an inability to properly gauge the effectiveness of heuristics-based security tools.