Skip to main content

Virus naming & The Public Good

This appears to be a case where publicity about a particularly nasty worm has suffered because it was named something different by all the major antivirus vendors. Gaobot, which appears to be the Symantec name for this family of worms, isn't even in the title of this document. Microsoft machines and NDemon/Phatbot/Agobot Worms -- 19 Apr 2004 [Updated: 2004.04.27] It would be helpful to their customers if the AntiVirus vendors would agree to a common naming convention, and certain other standards related to identity of malware threats. A checksum should be provided with all descriptions, as well as standardized means to reference the known capabilities of threats. This probably won't happen unless an open source project, perhaps related to ClamAV finds itself so strong that the weaker AntiVirus companies suddenly find it to their advantage to play along. It's more likely that Microsoft will kill off the weaker AntiVirus vendors before that happens. The stronger AntiVirus vendors will eventually get out of the market, too, leaving a defacto standard -- the Microsoft Way, whatever that will be. It'll probably change every 18 months anyway.

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Comments

kurt wismer said…
there already is a common naming convention among anti-virus companies, but that doesn't guarantee common names across vendors, only that they're all using the same naming system...

the vendor's first priority is getting signatures out to the customer, which means they don't have time to sit around figuring out who gets to name it... they do rename their signatures from time to time in order to agree with other vendors but that's not a particularly reliable process... also, when it's clear that a vendor has already named it, other vendors will use that name but that doesn't help if they're all working on the same thing at the same time...

the way this confusion is being mitigated now-a-days is with the common malware enumeration... malware which is felt to be significant to the public is given a number and when multiple vendors submit samples a process called deconfliction takes place that says X, Y, and Z are all the same thing and so all get the same number even if they have different names...
Monday, January 08, 2007 3:03:00 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Verified by Visa (Veriphied Phishing?)

If you have used a Visa card to make a purchase online lately you may have encountered a relatively new program, Verified by Visa . I've encountered it twice. The system is an interesting attempt by Visa to reduce online fraud and identity theft. It's a noble effort, but the user experience is unsettling, and the security implications are not exactly crystal clear. Here's what happened to me, both times the Verified by Visa system was activated. I was redirected away from the domain at which I was shopping, to a URL which was: not the domain where I was shopping, not the domain of the bank that issued my card not visa.com I've been telling people for years that if anything like that happens to you, close your web browser immediately and do not under any circumstances enter any personal information into the form, because this is a sure sign of a man in the middle or phishing scam. (Never mind that all the best phishing scams now-a-days look like the actual dom...
20 comments
Read more

Virus Vulnerability for RFID (Radio Frequency ID tags)?

The breeding ground for the computer virus will be expanding continually and rapidly over the next decade as appliances, automobiles, and all manner of other things become equipped with wireless networking and miniature computers. Cell phone and similar networks may enable worms to leap between devices over long distances and other networks over short distances. Researchers have recently demonstrated that RFID tags may be vulnerable next. Articles on the topic: RFID worm created in the lab [NewScientist.com] Viruses leap to smart radio tags [BBC.co.uk] RFID tags could carry computer viruses [SecurityFocus.com] The details for the curious: RFID Viruses and Worms The AntiVirus paradigm that we [the IT community and industry] have foisted upon PC users is already breaking down under the strain of too many virus variants and too many non-technical PC users. The paradigm probably won't work at all for cell phones and the paradigm is completely broken for the typical RFID devic...
6 comments
Read more

Splunk acquires Phantom Cyber

I hope it doesn't come across as too cynical, the observation that most acquisitions in the tech domain fail to produce anything useful and often as not wind up killing a promising upstart technology, even if only by accident. I have hope for this one, though. Splunk strikes me as a likely exception. This acquisition of fresh ideas and talent might breathe new life into a solid, if somewhat staid, security company. Splunk’s data analytics gets a security boost with $350 million acquisition of Phantom Cyber
Post a Comment
Read more