Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization (AMTSO) is an international non-profit organization set up in 2008 to address a perceived need for improvement in the quality, relevance and objectivity of anti-malware testing methodologies.
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Stated Objectives
According to the AMTSO web site, the organization's charter currently lists the following objectives:
Organization
Until 2012 AMTSO was administered by an elected (and unpaid) Board of Directors, with strategic and other input from an Advisory Board, and six committees to handle specific operations such as membership, fees, PR and so on. Subsequently, a major infrastructural change took place, introducing an executive team with a CEO, CTO, CFO and VPs of Marketing and Strategy in addition to the already existing Board of Directors.
Membership
While it grew out of discussions between security vendors and security product testing organizations, membership of AMTSO is also open to academics, reviewers, publications, and does include some individual members. However, the high cost of full membership generally discourages individual members and small organizations from joining, and since early 2011, the organization has offered a much cheaper subscription rate that doesn't, however, offer full voting rights.
Work
The organization has created some potentially useful resources for testers, including a page that flags relevant papers and other resources outside AMTSO, and a repository of guidelines documents for the benefit of aspiring testers on a wide range of topics. Another popular freely available resource is the Security Features Check, which attempts to download a faux malicious file to a desktop or Android device. This is a simple test to ensure that basic anti-malware standards are implemented on the test device.
It also organizes workshops three times a year: discussion and generation of guidelines documents are a major by-product of these sessions.
Controversy
Some members of the wider security community and even testers have raised issue with organization's membership, which includes a preponderance of security vendors.