McAfee, Symantec, Trend Micro, ICSA Labs, and Thompson Cyber Security Labs are teaming up to set industry standards in the war against spyware, the companies announced. The project is called Spywaretesting.org and will allow customers to identify and protect themselves against spyware, and at the same time test and compare anti-spyware products coming from the five producers.
Spyware is the fastest growing risk for consumers and organizations. According to some security experts, the spyware threat is growing at a rate ranging from 50 to 100 percent a year.
“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 effectively combat the proliferation of spyware on behalf of customers, providing a safer and more efficient online environment for everyone.”
A concurrent program was launched last week by Google, Lenovo, Sun Microsystems, MIT, and Cambridge University. The program is called StopBadware.org, and does much of the same thing as the Spywaretesting.org program.
Source: Portal Romania
