Welcome to our regular roundup of events and activities in and around AMTSO.
New (and Upcoming) Guideline Papers
Several new and updated guidance documents have been working through our pipeline over the last few months, with our “Guidelines for Testing of Agentic Security Products” officially approved as an AMTSO document this week, alongside an update to our “Sandbox Evaluation Framework” also focused on AI-related features. Both have now been added to our document archive, and we look forward to seeing test labs making good use of the guidance as they develop advanced tests of the latest AI-driven and AI-targeted security solutions. Meanwhile another new paper, the “AMTSO Guidelines for Testing Application Promises“, has completed its public review phase and moved on to the final stages of AMTSO member approval.
Meetings and Events
Our October Cyber Research Conference in Brussels is fast approaching, and anyone wishing to attend is advised to sign up ASAP to ensure your place at the event – our reserved accomodation block at the venue hotel will be expiring soon, although we hope there will still be space available for our attendees either on site or nearby. We are in process of adding some more talks to the agenda with a few last-minute spaces held back until this month, we will be seeking further papers from members and guests to fill out the schedule over the next few weeks. Registration and full details of the event can be found on the event page, AMTSO members can sign up via the member site.
Working Groups
Most of our project teams have been on a brief hiatus over the summer break period, but our RTTL Working Group continued to meet regularly to check in on the system, holding a call again this week for updates on the planned upgrades to the structure and content in our development pipeline. Next week we will have calls for our AI Working Group, looking at next steps following the successful adoption of their first paper, as well as our Multi-Engine Quality Certification Working Group, checking in on adoption of the program launched in July. From the following week we will be restarting our Scam & Phishing group, also looking at next steps as the first tests based on the team’s output from earlier in the year are set to come online, and our Sandbox group to monitor progress of testing under the framework and encourage more uptake from sandbox providers. Once sufficient data has been collected we aim to provide at-a-glance overview of the report outcomes based on a display strutuce designed during the process of developing the initial framework.
AMTSO Standard and Test Calendar
Our Test Calendar has been fully updated to include multiple new and completed tests emerging over the last few weeks. Recent additions include detailed Q2 data from MRG Effitas and SE Labs, the July report from AVLab Cybersecurity Foundation, the August round of VB100 certifications from Virus Bulletin, and a major test of cloud-based firewalls and app protections from SecureIQLab. Here’s a summary of recent activities from our Standard compliance team:
Public Test Notifications were issued for the following tests:
- MRG-Effitas Q3’2026 360 Degree Android Assessment and Certification (AMTSO Test ID: AMTSO-LS1-TP209) on August 21st, 2026.
- MRG-Effitas Q3’2026 360 Degree Enterprise Assessment and Certification (Endpoint) (AMTSO Test ID: AMTSO-LS1-TP210) on August 21st, 2026.
- TGL (Testing Ground Labs) August 2026 Consumer Android Malware Detection Test (AMTSO Test ID: AMTSO-LS1-TP211) on August 25th, 2026.
- TGL (Testing Ground Labs) August 2026 Enterprise Android Malware Detection Test (AMTSO Test ID: AMTSO-LS1-TP212) on August 25th, 2026.
- MRG-Effitas September 2026 360 Degree Consumer Assessment and Certification (AMTSO Test ID: AMTSO-LS1-TP213) on Monday, August 31st, 2026.
Compliance Reports were issued for the following completed tests:
- Virus Bulletin April to June VB100 Test (AMTSO Test ID: AMTSO-LS1-TP174) on July 28th, 2026.
- Artifact Security VPN Performance Evaluation Test – H1’2026 (AMTSO Test ID: AMTSO-LS1-TP201) on July 28th, 2026.
- AV-TEST May/June 2026 Virus Protection Test Report covering Windows 11 for Home Users (AMTSO Test ID: AMTSO-LS1-TP188) on August 4th, 2026.
- AV-TEST May/June Virus Protection Test Report covering Windows 11 for Business Users (AMTSO Test ID: AMTSO-LS1-TP187) on August 4th, 2026.
- MRG-Effitas July 2026 Consumer Assessment and Certification Test (AMTSO Test ID: AMTSO-LS1-TP206) on August 19th, 2026.
- TGL (Testing Ground Labs) June 2026 Android Consumer Test (AMTSO Test ID:: AMTSO-LS1-TP205) on August 19th, 2026.
- AVLab Cybersecurity July 2026 Advanced “In the Wild” Malware Detection Test (AMTSO Test ID: AMTSO-LS1-TP178) on August 28th, 2026.
- MRG-Effitas Q2’2026 Android Efficacy Assessment Test Report (AMTSO Test ID: AMTSO-LS1-TP202) on August 31st, 2026. (Revised edition released on September 1st, 2026.)
- MRG-Effitas Q2’2026 360-Degree Endpoint Assessment and Certification Test Report (AMTSO Test ID: AMTSO-LS1-TP203) on August 31st, 2026. (Revised edition released on September 1st, 2026.)
- SE Labs Q2’2026 Enterprise, Small Business, and Consumer Endpoint Test Reports (AMTSO Test ID: AMTSO-LS1-TP197) on September 1st, 2026.
Phase 2 Commentary Collections are in progress for the following recently completed tests:
- AV-TEST July 2026 Android Antivirus Applications Test Report (AMTSO Test ID: AMTSO-LS1-TP184).
Information on all published and upcoming tests being tracked by AMTSO can be found in our Test Calendar.
Board and Management
Our team has continued holding regular check-in calls over the summer break period, and we will resume our schedule of full Board meetings later in September.
Membership
We remind existing members that renewal fees for the current (2026-27) member year are now due, please contact your AMTSO representative if you have any issues making your payments. Anyone interested in becoming an AMTSO member can find more information on our joining page.
ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER
We send this newsletter to all AMTSO member representatives, as well as non-members who have engaged with AMTSO recently and have an interest in what’s going on in the AMTSO community. If you have any friends or colleagues who would like to be kept informed of developments in the testing world, they can sign up here. If you’d like to know more about joining the AMTSO community, there’s information and an application form here.