Meet the AMTSO Board

AMTSO, the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization, is an independent international organization devoted to improving the quality of malware testing. Chartered in May 2008, it offers membership to academics, reviewers, publications, testers and vendors. The group's board of directors comes from many different countries and companies, reflecting the diversity of the membership. This weekend I'm attending a strategic planning meeting in my capacity as member of the group's Advisory Board. I've been excited to work with such a talented group.

Stuart Taylor, Chairman of the Board, joined British security company Sophos in 1997, switching from creating software to disassembling malware. He currently manages the Threat Lab for Sophos. Righard Zwienenberg, President of the Board, hails from the Netherlands. He's worked in anti-malware since a 1988 encounter with early virus problems at the Technical University of Delft. At present he serves as Chief Research Officer for NORMAN Data Defense systems. American Mark Kennedy, the group's Corporate Secretary, started as an engineer with Symantec in 1991 and now heads Symantec's Behavior Blocking engines.

David Harley, Director of Malware Intelligence for Slovakia-based ESET, has worked in virus research since 1989 and has written numerous books and conference papers in the field. Andreas Marx heads AV-Test, an independent anti-malware testing lab based in Magdeburg, Germany. PCMag relies on Marx's tests (among others) to evaluate the efficacy of anti-malwae solutions. Igor Muttik started his career with a PhD in physics and mathematics from Moscow University. He started as a Virus Researcher with British antivirus company Dr. Solomon in 1995 and joined McAfee when it acquired Dr. Solomon. At present Muttik is Senior Architect for McAfee's Avert Labs.

Karel Obluk joined Czech (and international) antivirus company AVG in 2003, though his experience with viruses dates back to 1989. He currently serves as both CTO and CEO for the company. Roel Schouwenberg monitors malware for the well known Russian security company Kaspersky Lab. He brings a decade of experience in malware analysis to the job. Gabor Szappanos heads the virus lab for VirusBuster in Hungary. He started developing freeware antivirus solutions in 1995 and is a frequent speaker at security conferences.

In addition to the board of directors, AMTSO has an Advisory Board to help with strategic direction. Three advisory board members are attending this meeting. Dr. Jose Fernandez teaches as a professor at École Polytechnique de Montréal in the Computer & Software Engineering Department. He researches computer security and directs the school's malware-testing research laboratory, and brings a talent for organization to the group. Jaimee King, a termed-out member of the Board of Directors, now serves on the advisory board. Now independent, she worked for years in Symantec's legal department and was highly instrumental in the original creation of the AMTSO.

And then there's me, PCMag Lead Analyst for operating systems and security. AMTSO invited me as an advisor because my goals in testing anti-malware products are in line with the group's own. What did this stellar group accomplish? Reporting on that will have to wait until the meeting finishes today, but so far I'm highly impressed.