A consortium of security companies has been formed to agree on a common
standard for identifying spyware.
McAfee,
Symantec,
Trend Micro,
ICSA
Labs and
Thompson
Cyber Security Labs formed the alliance to create identification and testing
methodologies for beating spyware.
"There is an enormous amount of confusion in the marketplace about the
origins of spyware and the effectiveness of the tools designed to fight it,"
said Larry Bridwell of ICSA Labs, an independent division of
Cybertrust.
"This agreement is an important first step in maturing the industry to the
point where it can combat the proliferation of spyware on behalf of customers,
providing a safer and more efficient online environment for everyone."
The five companies in the initial group make up nearly half of all major
antivirus and anti-spyware companies, and others are expected to join later this
year.
"We knew about this and I think we'll be joining shortly," said Graham
Cluley, senior technology consultant at
Sophos.
"We're not in the list of original members but not through choice. ISCA looks
to have limited the initial group to small number of members for simplicity's
sake at this early stage."
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