Norman has joined Common Malware Enumeration (CME), an international organisation that works for common definitions of new virus threats in order to reduce public confusion during malware outbreaks.

CME consists of several security organisations who aim to facilitate the adaptation of a shared, neutral capability for malware.

- CME works to reduce the public’s confusion in defining threats and malware incidents, to enhance communication between antivirus vendors and to improve communication and information sharing between antivirus vendors and the rest of the information security community. It is important for Norman to participate in this cooperation and to raise the common understanding and awareness of information security risks, says VP marketing and business development Audun Lødemel at Norman ASA.

Before CME was established, anti-virus vendors used a variety of names and various designations for the same outbreak. As a result, companies had a difficult time staying coordinated with names for all of the new viruses. The results were widespread confusion, with members of the public having to determine whether there is a single outbreak underway, multiple outbreaks, or a new outbreak altogether. Having to determine whether the protection they have in place is effective against current outbreak(s) also increases the public’s burden further. This meant that during outbreaks, network administrators had difficulty determining if their networks and systems were protected because of the variety of virus names that all referred to the same threat(s).

- Norman’s strategy is to make the public aware of the threats and dangers in the world of IT and to help people get a better understanding of this. Teaming up with CME will help us achieve this goal, says Lødemel.

Norman has already started using the CME classification when analysing virus. This happened last week during the outbreak of Sober. You can read more at http://www.norman.com/Virus/Virus_descriptions/24963/en

For more information, please contact:

• Audun Lødemel,  VP marketing and Business dev, Norman ASA, tel: + 47 93 44 65 31