CARO (Computer Antivirus Research Organization) is an organization that was established in 1990 to research and study malware.
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The organization is perhaps best known for the Virus Naming Convention of 1991 (with subsequent revisions). Though widely adopted, it still faced usage obstacles. This has led to proposal of new naming systems from product vendors and industry groups.
The annual workshop is the biggest CARO event. The workshop is usually organized and hosted by one anti-virus firm in their home country. Workshops started in 2007 and the attendance is limited to 120-130 top anti-malware experts with a strict policy of no photography or recordings of any kind:
EICAR test file
CARO, in collaboration with EICAR (European Institute for Computer Antivirus Research), is perhaps most notable for the EICAR test file: an innocent, executable string, designed to test the integrity of antivirus software.
CARO Members
Members, founders and not, of CARO includes: Friðrik Skúlason (founder of FRISK Software International), Dr. Alan Solomon (founder of Dr Solomon's Antivirus Toolkit), Vesselin Bontchev, Mikko Hyppönen (CRO of F-Secure), Eugene Kaspersky (founder of Kaspersky Lab), Nick FitzGerald, Peter Ferrie, Dmitry Gryaznov, Igor Muttik, Padgett Peterson, Costin Raiu, Morton Swimmer and Righard Zwienenberg.