Anti-virus protection gets worse

["Richard M. Smith" <rms () computerbytesman com>]

Anti-virus protection gets worse

What is this thing you call heuristics?
 
By
<blocked::http://forms.theregister.co.uk/mail_author/?story_url=/2007/12/21/
dwindling_antivirus_protection/> Dan Goodin in San Francisco 
21 Dec 2007 03:05
 
<blocked::http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/12/21/dwindling_antivirus_pr
otection/>
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/12/21/dwindling_antivirus_protection/
 

Antivirus software is getting worse at protecting users from new threats,
according to two reports which found malware authors are getting better at
disguising their creations.

German computer magazine c't <blocked::http://www.heise.de/ct/>  studied 17
antivirus programs and exposed them to completely new samples of malware.
What they found wasn't encouraging. Detection rates sank to 20-30 per cent,
from 40-50 per cent in a similar test last year.

The c't researchers also created variants of known viruses and found that
virtually all of the scanners missed at least some of them.

Plenty of questions remain about the report, which is scheduled to be
published in January. (Heise has a brief synopsis of the report here
<blocked::http://www.heise-security.co.uk/news/100900> .) It would be
helpful to know the methodology and what products were tested.

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