January 18, 2006 World-known anti-virus and anti-spy software products DO NOT protect information from most dangerous, "custom-made" keyloggers ? thats the result of the testing which experts from Information Security Center Ltd recently carried out. The testing simulated a situation when a thief applies a custom-made keylogger compiled from source code freely available (!) from the Internet.
It is efficiency of data protection that was made the only criterion in the comparative testing. The experts tested how 44 most popular anti-spyware and anti-viruses perform against the most dangerous information-stealing software, i.e. the very kind of programs which cybercriminals use to steal confidential information.
The testing simulated the situation when a computer is infested with custom-made keyloggers ? extremely dangerous software created specially for identity theft or espionage. Everybody (!) can take source code of keylogging programs from the Internet and compile an entirely new "spy" which no product based solely on signature analysis will detect. Another goal of the testing was to check efficiency of heuristic algorithms, that most anti-virus and anti-spyware vendors proclaim they apply for detecting spyware.
The testers used 9 "test spies" compiled of the source code they took from the Internet. The results turned out to be shocking: - 28 out of 44 anti-virus and anti-spy software products couldnt do anything ? they detected none of these spies - 10 products managed only 1 spy out of 9 - 5 programs caught only 2 out of 9 - The only product that blocked all the 9spies was PrivacyKeyboard ? a dedicated anti-keylogging solution based solely on heuristic algorithms.
To avoid the blame for being biased in favor of their own product, the specialists described the method of testing in detail in their article. Everybody who has basic programming skills can try it. "Everybody is welcome to repeat the testing", ? says Dennis Kudin, the Chief Technology Officer of Information Security Center Ltd. "The method we used is simple enough to apply. Even a user not very experienced in programming can do this testing himself ? and we are sure the results will be the same."
For additional information please visit http://bezpeka.com/en/lib/antispy/art2869.html
About Information Security Center Ltd Information Security Center Ltd is a privately held software developing company based in Ukraine. For years it has been working in the sphere of information security and data protection. The companys R&D department created an innovative technology, which disables the very processes of information capturing -- keylogging, screenshoting, etc. The dedicated anti-keylogging solutions based on this technology are capable of counteracting software, which cybercriminals create specially for identity theft or espionage
CONTACT INFORMATION: Alexandra Gamanenko, PR Manager Information Security Center Ltd Phone/Fax +380 612 129 282 Email: contacts@bezpeka.com Postal address: 6a Nizhnedneprovskaya Str., Zaporozhye 69091, Ukraine Website: http://www.security-ukraine.com
