Panda punished over virus warning fiasco

Antivirus company Panda Software has been suspended from an industry group for withholding information about a new virus it claimed was "more deadly than the Love Bug".

Earlier this week, the company was slammed by other antivirus vendors for failing to share information about the Little Davinia worm until three days after it had issued a press release warning about the problem.

Panda is a member of various industry forums, including the Revs (Rapid Exchange of Virus Samples) group, in which it is common practice for antivirus companies to share with each other information about new viruses before issuing alerts. This enables all companies to work on fixes to ensure their customers are protected.

After the accusations from other vendors, Panda said that it felt it had a duty to notify customers first when a new virus is discovered. The company also blamed the lack of information sharing on its head technical director being unwell and out of the office on the day the virus was discovered.

However, despite its excuses, vnunet.com today learned from sources close to the antivirus industry that Panda had been suspended from the list as a direct result of its actions, although it is not known for how long.

Ian Whalley, who co-ordinates the running of Revs, said he was unable to comment on Panda's punishment but added: "What happened with Little Davinia was precisely the sort of thing Revs was created to try to avoid.

"However, I think it's best for Revs not to publicly describe specific actions it may or may not have taken in specific situations."

Revs has very strict rules about the behaviour and actions of members. It states on its website: "If a participant appears to be not sending viruses to Revs in a timely fashion, this will be noticed by participants, who will be receiving communications from their customers asking about this new virus that company X is talking about".

"In the event of a participant not following the spirit of these rules, that participant will be suspended. The first suspension will be for a period of 24 hours, and the suspension period will double for each subsequent offence."

A spokeswoman for Panda said she was unable to say how long the suspension was for, but admitted it was "understandable" that the company had been punished.

"Normally we collaborate with the other companies, and although it may sound shady, unfortunately on this occasion this did not happen. However, the samples went out as soon as we got in on Monday. If they [Revs] are upset, it is certainly understandable. It is really unfortunate, but it happened and they have to follow the rules."