 | |
| Founded | 2009 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Melih Abdulhayoğlu |
| Type | Professional Organization |
| Focus | Providing internet security industry standards and protecting end users |
| Location | |
| Website | www |
Common Computing Security Standards Forum (CCSS Forum) is a voluntary organization of vendors and providers of security software, operating systems, and Internet browsers. [1]
The CCSS Forum was formed with the following goals:
In 2009, Melih Abdulhayoğlu organized the Common Computing Security Standards Forum initially for the purpose of maintaining a list of legitimate antivirus engines.
This was in response to "scareware" products that present themselves as antivirus software but are either adware or malware. [2] [3] According to the FBI, they are aware of an estimated loss to victims from rogue antivirus software of as much as $150 million. [4] [5]
The CCSS maintains a so-called "whitelist" of legitimate organizations that provide antivirus systems. The "Trusted Vendors" list can be viewed on the organization's web site, http://www.ccssforum.org Archived 2021-01-25 at the Wayback Machine
Antivirus software, also known as anti-malware, is a computer program used to prevent, detect, and remove malware.
The EICAR Anti-Virus Test File or EICAR test file is a computer file that was developed by the European Institute for Computer Antivirus Research (EICAR) and Computer Antivirus Research Organization (CARO) to test the response of computer antivirus (AV) programs. Instead of using real malware, which could cause real damage, this test file allows people to test anti-virus software without having to use a real computer virus.
Scareware is a form of malware which uses social engineering to cause shock, anxiety, or the perception of a threat in order to manipulate users into buying unwanted software. Scareware is part of a class of malicious software that includes rogue security software, ransomware and other scam software that tricks users into believing their computer is infected with a virus, then suggests that they download and pay for fake antivirus software to remove it. Usually the virus is fictional and the software is non-functional or malware itself. According to the Anti-Phishing Working Group, the number of scareware packages in circulation rose from 2,850 to 9,287 in the second half of 2008. In the first half of 2009, the APWG identified a 585% increase in scareware programs.
Panda Security is a Spanish cybersecurity software company. Panda Security's core offering is antivirus software and more recently has expanded into providing and developing cybersecurity software. This includes security products and services for both businesses and home users, as well as protection tools for systems, networks, emails, and other private information. Panda Security employs around 458 people.
Xcitium, formerly known as Comodo Security Solutions, Inc., is a cybersecurity company headquartered in Bloomfield, New Jersey.
AntiVirus Gold is rogue software developed by ICommerce Solutions S.A. that poses as a legitimate antivirus program. It attempts to persuade users to buy the software by displaying ads and other nagware. It is believed that the name of the program is an attempt at social engineering to confuse people about the legitimate program AVG Anti-Virus.
Rogue security software is a form of malicious software and internet fraud that misleads users into believing there is a virus on their computer and aims to convince them to pay for a fake malware removal tool that actually installs malware on their computer. It is a form of scareware that manipulates users through fear, and a form of ransomware. Rogue security software has been a serious security threat in desktop computing since 2008. An early example that gained infamy was SpySheriff and its clones, such as Nava Shield.
Melih Abdulhayoğlu is the CEO of MAVeCap, an incubator Venture Capital firm funded by his family office. MAVeCap focusses on building tomorrow's technology platform companies. His first company was Comodo. The firm is now branded as Sectigo.
SpySheriff is malware that disguises itself as anti-spyware software. It attempts to mislead the user with false security alerts, threatening them into buying the program. Like other rogue antiviruses, after producing a list of false threats, it prompts the user to pay to remove them. The software is particularly difficult to remove, since it nests its components in System Restore folders, and also blocks some system management tools. However, SpySheriff can be removed by an experienced user, antivirus software, or by using a rescue disk.
Kaspersky Anti-Virus is a proprietary antivirus program developed by Kaspersky Lab. It is designed to protect users from malware and is primarily designed for computers running Microsoft Windows and macOS, although a version for Linux is available for business consumers.
Webroot Inc. is an American privately-held cybersecurity software company that provides Internet security for consumers and businesses. The company was founded in Boulder, Colorado, US, and is now headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado, and has US operations in San Mateo and San Diego, and globally in Australia, Austria, Ireland, Japan and the United Kingdom.
Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) is an antivirus software (AV) product that provides protection against different types of malicious software, such as computer viruses, spyware, rootkits, and Trojan horses. Prior to version 4.5, MSE ran on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7, but not on Windows 8 and later versions, which have built-in AV components known as Windows Defender. MSE 4.5 and later versions do not run on Windows XP. The license agreement allows home users and small businesses to install and use the product free of charge. It replaces Windows Live OneCare, a discontinued commercial subscription-based AV service, and the free Windows Defender, which only protected users from spyware until Windows 8.
Comodo Internet Security (CIS) is developed and distributed by Comodo Group, a freemium Internet security suite that includes an antivirus program, personal firewall, sandbox, host-based intrusion prevention system (HIPS) and website filtering.
Malwarebytes Inc. is an American Internet security company that specializes in protecting home computers, smartphones, and companies from malware and other threats. It has offices in Santa Clara, California; Clearwater, Florida; Tallinn, Estonia; Bastia Umbra, Italy; and Cork, Ireland.
MS Antivirus is a scareware rogue anti-virus which purports to remove virus infections found on a computer running Microsoft Windows. It attempts to scam the user into purchasing a "full version" of the software. The company and the individuals behind Bakasoftware operated under other different 'company' names, including Innovagest2000, Innovative Marketing Ukraine, Pandora Software, LocusSoftware, etc.
AV Security Suite is a piece of scareware and malware, or more specifically a piece of rogue security software, which poses as a pre-installed virus scanner on a victim's computer system. It is currently known to affect only Microsoft Windows systems, although it may simply operate under a different name on other platforms to better cloak itself within their user interfaces, as its disguise is a key component of its success. In the task manager, it appears as a string of a random characters that end with "tssd.exe" – an example is "yvyvsggtssd.exe." It also can show a random string of characters that end with "shdw.exe".
Internet Security Essentials, also InternetSecurityEssentials, is rogue security software pretending to protect the computer against malware and viruses. It is one of several clones belonging to the "FakeVimes" family of fake antivirus malware.
Winwebsec is a category of malware that targets the users of Windows operating systems and produces fake claims as genuine anti-malware software, then demands payment to provide fixes to fictitious problems.
ByteDefender also known as ByteDefender Security 2010 is a scareware rogue malware application on Windows that masquerades as a legitimate antivirus program. It uses a false system scanner that produces large deposits of malware and it attempts to scare the users to purchase the full version of the rogue software for the removal of nonexistent and/or unnecessary spyware items. The name of this antispyware program is used to confuse the user looking for the legitimate Bitdefender before downloading the software.