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Posts Tagged ‘EICAR’

25 years with or within the Antivirus and Security Industry

Last week (9 December 2014) it was exactly 25 years ago one of my former managers gave me a diskette which appeared to be having the AIDS information trojan. At that time I was one of the first in the world to get a detection for it and who could reverse the situation from a trojanised machine back to healthy one. It changed my life completely. 2 years later I was one of the founders of EICAR. After that my whole life was dedicated to malware and security and I finally became what I always wanted to be: a Security Evangelist, actually a Cybersecurity Expert with deep knowledge of security and excellent skills to communicate technical stuff to non-technical people. If you want to refresh your memory about the AIDS Trojan you can watch my first TV interview (Dutch – VTM) from 9 December 1989 and find out that I changed a little bit.

I love what I’m doing. It’s my life and I’m one of the few which are not doing it only for the money. During those 25 years I’ve met a lot of interesting, brilliant minded and enthusiast people. The AV industry itself is also quite special and I still like to work with or inside this industry even after 30 years IT experience (not counting my university and school years). However some people involved are not always what they pretend to be and just do their job. It’s just a job for them.
It’s not a job for me, it’s much more, It’s my life.

And take it from me, there is a big difference if you’re driven by a mentality or principle to help the general public, companies and organizations in the continuous battle against cybercrime today.

I am ready for the next 25 years .. well that’s maybe a little bit exagerated.   ;-)

PS: If you find less blogs from me these days over here just visit the blog page of G DATA or follow my Twitterfeed @EddyWillems or watch the media in your country.


Book Launch ‘Cybergevaar’

IT security Information for everybody

I finally did it. In the beginning of October 2013, I and the Belgian publisher Lannoo (www.lannoo.be ) officially launched ‘Cybergevaar’ in Belgium and the Netherlands. It was not an easy job, I can tell you but I always wanted to do this. It took me about 8 to 9 months to write and finalize it. That’s also part of the reason why I didn’t blog that often anymore during that period.

“Writing a book about cyber threats in a comprehensible and comprehensive way is not an easy task, but the book ‘Cybergevaar ‘ succeeds in this”, certifies the book’s first review, conducted by a well-known Belgian IT magazine, Datanews. The book “Cybergevaar” tries to provide a very readable and very accessible overview of almost every information security related problem and malware. It reaches out to the general audience and does not only target the technically savvy reader but provides information for everybody.

cybergevaarcover

“Cybergevaar” starts with an overview of the history of malware and looks into the many profiles of malware writers and hackers. One of the chapters touches the topic underground economy and is using a lot of examples to explain the involvements. It is based on a whitepaper written by G Data SecurityLabs. Furthermore, new developments in the fields of cyber attacks, sabotage and espionage are discussed and looked into from different angles. The daily threats and the myths about malware are described in a detailed way. Among this, the chapter about general security tips and tricks is interesting for everybody. The book also provides a special chapter with thorough advice for companies.

While exploring the book, the reader can find several exciting security anecdotes and entertaining situations one possibly has never heard of before. Additional clarifications are provided throughout the entire book by use of attractive illustrations and easy-to-understand graphs. High-level opinions of people with experience and interest in the ICT security industry are included: Professionals such as Natalya Kasperskaya (InfoWatch), Ralf Benzmüller (G Data), Peter Kruse (CSIS Security Group), Bob Burls (Independent IT Security Consultant) are amongst the contributors.  The book also seeks to elaborate on how governments and the media can play a role in the ‘education’ of users. Moreover, it gives an inside look into the computer security industry and organizations like AMTSO and EICAR. And, of course, ‘Cybergevaar’ does not miss the opportunity to highlight how the problem and its solutions may develop in the future, with a special chapter in the form of a short story – ‘Radical Ransom’ – set in the year 2033.

“Cybergevaar” by Eddy Willems, Lannoo, 213 pages, is now available in Belgian and Dutch bookstores and online shops.  Plans to publish this book in other languages, such as German and English, are currently being discussed.

Official Website (Dutch): www.cybergevaar.be and www.cybergevaar.nl

You can also order your version of the book via this webpage: www.lannooshop.com/gdata

 


Three importants AV industry events in a row

The month May has always been dedicated to several traditionally important security industry events of the year. G Data is always present at these events and was playing a very important role this time.
 

EICAR
While the EICAR conference 2011 was dominated by the buzzword cyberwar, the 2012 EICAR conference, actually the 21st, was focusing on ‘Cyber Attacks – Myths and Reality in Contemporary Context’. The conference took place at the Marriott Hotel in Lisbon.
The recent past brought a considerable shift in the underground malware authors’ mentality; a swing from the thrill-seeking geek striving for flame or glory to the professional culprit methodologies and, even more importantly, the inadequate expertise of the average user, for monetary gain. The next contemporary threat scenario calls for an adaptation of the technology and the defense methodologies. Even if scientific research would provide the baseline for some innovations, we still need to have a more holistic approach on the implementation of new innovations. This conference therefore invited researchers to address some of these issues in their papers.
This year’s event was another great one and we are already looking forward to the next one, including some new initiatives from EICAR which should appear soon on the EICAR’s website. If things turn out as planned, the EICAR 2013 conference will be held in Cologne, Germany, 9-11 June 2013.  (more…)


AMTSO, CARO and EICAR – conferences and events – an overview

The beginning of May was dedicated to three traditionally important security industry events of the year. It started with an AMTSO Meeting, then the CARO Workshop followed and it ended with the EICAR Conference. I participated for G Data in all of them!

You can find the original posting of this article at the G Data Security blog.

G Data is one of the members of AMTSO (www.amtso.org), an organization currently comprised of around 40 members, representing testers, vendors, academics and publishers involved in anti-malware research. I was at the last AMTSO members’ meeting which was held in Prague. As always, a lot of work was done during the workshops: The document “AMTSO Guidelines on Facilitating Testability” was initiated at the suggestion of testers and developed jointly by testers and vendors. The new paper is the latest in a succession of guidelines and best practice documents already published. The AMTSO members also agreed to expand the range of documentation the organization produces to include more educational material. They also introduced changes to the voting procedure to ensure that documents cannot be approved by the members unless a majority of testers agree that the content is up to standard. This step mentioned last is designed to avoid any possibility of bias in favor of any group within the organization.

(more…)


WAVCI.com
Eddy Willems Anti-Virus Consultancy International

This is Eddy Willems’ official and original homepage for anti-virus and anti-malware consultancy with links to most anti-malware sites and companies in the world.

I advise you to have a look at my newer site www.eddywillems.be  or www.wavci.com which is up-to-date.

This site will not be updated anymore and will disappear in the future!

This site was the reference in independent anti-malware advice and information. It is also known as the first Belgian anti-virus page and one of the oldest security sites on the Web. This site is renewed in September 2010 and exists since 1995. Within these pages you will find one of the most comprehensive lists of anti-malware sites in the world with over 10.000 links.

I have been working over 3 decades as Anti-Malware Technology Expert for the security industry (NOXS (a Westcon Group Company), McAfee, TrendMicro and Symantec) and as Security Evangelist for Kaspersky Lab. I am now working as Security Evangelist for G DATA CyberDefense AG . I am a Belgian Cyber Security Expert who is (or has been) a board member of most international security and malware organizations in the world. I am the first and only Belgian being on the board of three ( EICAR, AVAR, and LSEC) international security organizations at the same time. Find more about me at the ‘about me’ page for a more detailed bio. I’m also a recognized security media expert having experience with live tv ranging from local Benelux to international TV stations like CNN, Al Jazeera, TRT World and more.

I published my first book ‘Cybergevaar‘ (Lannoo) in 2013. A German translation became available ‘Cybergefahr‘ (Springer) in 2015. An updated and expanded English edition ‘Cyberdanger‘ (Springer) was published in 2019.

In 2020 together with co-author Alain Dierckx I published my first SF Cyberthriller ‘Het Virus‘ (Lannoo).

These days I’m also known for my inspiring talks. You can book me for an interesting security talk via my speakers office: Read-My-Lips. I am an inspiring speaker and I’m giving lectures and presentations worldwide for a very diverse audience from children to experts.

Take also a look at my Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn channels.

This site is and will remain always completely independent! (Site Design: Sonia Auger and Eddy Willems)