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Are You Taking The Panda Security Challenge?

I was very intrigued to get an email yesterday from a security software vendor announcing a contest daring information security practitioners to find a malware-free network and they'll give you $10,000.

Here's the text of the message:

"I’m writing to give you the heads up on a new contest that Panda Security is sponsoring: find a malware-free network using Panda’s Collective Intelligence technology and they’ll shell out $10,000 to the winner or winner’s charity of choice. As you may or may not know, over 4,000 new strains of malware are wreaking havoc on computer networks around the world on a daily basis which is a staggering figure. The alarming reality is that even the most sophisticated anti-virus (AV) tools are unable to protect vulnerable systems from the disaster and financial ruin that these almost impossible-to-detect malware strains can bring. Beginning today, February 26, and running through May 18, Panda Security is throwing down the gauntlet. In an effort to make companies more aware of the presence and damaging effects of malware, they are openly inviting any organization with networks of at least 150 computers to “Take the Panda Challenge” and test their systems using Malware Radar, Panda’s on-demand audit service for targeted malware infections.

This is a pretty bold move; if just 10 companies buck the system, Panda owes $100,000. Despite the potential financial consequences, Panda is willing to put its money where its mouth is – more info is available at www.pandasecurity.com/pandachallenge and from Ryan Sherstobitoff, Panda Security’s Chief Corporate Evangelist."

Interesting!

I would think that most military organizations would be able to win this...

And, let's see...perhaps some of the research organizations?

I wonder if someone from their competing security software vendors could participate...

Any of you taking this challenge? If so, I'd love to hear how it goes!

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Comments

I do not know of anyone here in the UK taking up the challange, but being in the malware business for a while now, I am confident Panda will get the winner's spot. Their new detection mechanisms are very impressive, which will determine things a lot in the contest.

I will be interested to see how it goes.

Thanks for your message, Rafal!

So, are you saying you do not believe there is any network, anywhere, that is free of malware...at least the known malware or malware characteristics, that Panda will be searching for?

Yes, it will be interesting to see the results! Such a contest certainly is a PR boon for them.

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Rebecca Herold's Bio:

Rebecca Herold,CISSP, CIPP, CISM, CISA, FLMI, has been providing information security, privacy and regulatory assistance and services to organizations from a wide range of industries for over 18 years. Rebecca was instrumental in building the information security and privacy program while at Principal Financial Group, which was awarded the CSI Information Security Program of the Year Award in 1998. IT Security ranked Rebecca as one of the top 59 IT security influencers, and Computerworld put Rebecca their list of the 25 top privacy experts and on their list of the 9 best privacy consulting firms. Rebecca has been CPO for two consulting organizations, and has had her own information privacy, security and compliance business since 2004. Rebecca has written chapters for several books, dozens of articles, and has been writing a monthly privacy column for the CSI Alert newsletter since the beginning of 2001, and is working on her 11th book. Some of her other books include The Privacy Papers, Managing an Information Security and Privacy Awareness and Training Program, The Definitive Guide to Security Inside the Perimeter (Realtime Publishers), The Shortcut Guide to Improving IT Service Support through ITIL (Realtime Publishers), and The Practical Guide to HIPAA Privacy and Security Compliance. In addition, Rebecca is the leader of The Realtime IT Compliance Community where she posts to her IT Compliance weblog. You can contact Rebecca at: rebecca_herold@realtimepublishers.net.