🚀 go-pugleaf

hobbit@ftp.com (*Hobbit*) writes:

> Obviously none of you are willing to publicly discuss the exact hows
> and whys of anyone's MtE-detection algorithm, for the usual reasons.

Yes, this is usually considered a trade secret.

> So the entire discussion is so far based on percentage hit rate, which

Correction: the discussion is not based on the percentage hit rate.
There is no such thing as percentage hit rate when you are speaking
about a known virus. Your scanner either is able to detect it
reliably, or it isn't. My tests are trying to show which scanners are
NOT able to detect the known MtE-based viruses reliably (because I
cannot prove that I scanner DOES reliable detection - I can only try
to find out an example that proves that a scanner is NOT able to do
reliable detection).

> for me has significantly less meaning in terms of explaining WHY
> product A sucks and product B is so much better.  Is this just me, or

Simple. :-) Reliable detection of the MtE-based viruses is -extremely-
difficult. Therefore, only anti-virus companies with very capable R&D
departments are able to solve the puzzle. (Note: this is not a flame
to anyone; for instance I don't know how reliable detection can be
achieved.) The current tests clearly show that very few AV companies
have indeed solved the puzzle.

BTW, it was demonstrated to me that no scanner can be made to detect
reliably unknown unencrypted MtE-based viruses. Sorry, but I cannot
discuss the details in public. The important thing is that the virus
could do some tricks to prevent this. None of the currently known
MtE-based viruses does this trick, so this fact should have any
impact on the current MtE detection by the scanners.

Regards,
Vesselin
- -- 
Vesselin Vladimirov Bontchev          Virus Test Center, University of Hamburg
Tel.:+49-40-54715-224, Fax: +49-40-54715-226      Fachbereich Informatik - AGN
< PGP 2.0 public key available on request. > Vogt-Koelln-Strasse 30, rm. 107 C
e-mail: bontchev@fbihh.informatik.uni-hamburg.de    D-2000 Hamburg 54, Germany