AVLab.pl - Summary of the Advanced In-The-Wild Malware Test – September 2024

[harlan4096]

Dear Readers!

With this summary we conclude this year’s penultimate series of Advanced In-The-Wild Malware Tests. As of September 2024, we have made a few changes under the hood in the Windows 10/11 security software testing application.

The first and biggest is that we have developed a new method of capturing more evidence of malware sample detection during the test in the form of screenshots taken several times a minute.

We use an OCR tool to read text from the images. Based on this text, we compare the keywords with matching alerts for the anti-virus software in question. If there is a positive match, we store all the records in a database, from which summaries are generated for the vendors. This image recognition capability also allows us to more thoroughly analyse potential malware samples before qualifying them for testing – we reject installers, unwanted (non-malicious) applications, corrupted files and other files that cannot be run in a Windows 11 environment.

We have added optional changed onto the backend as well. You can read them all on the transparency website: Changelog » AVLab Cybersecurity Foundation

September 2024

Results: Recent Results » AVLab Cybersecurity Foundation

And the publication: Summary Of The Advanced In-The-Wild Malware Test - September 2024 » AVLab Cybersecurity Foundation

We are also working with other vendors to add them to the tests. This is not always technically easy, so we ask for your understanding.

I hope that these changes will contribute to even better confidence in us and in our tests.