Welcome to our regular roundup of events and activities in and around AMTSO.
Meetings and Events
Last week we held our Cyber Research Conference in Brussels, with 40+ attendees gathering to listen to a wide range of presentations and panels, join in discussions on AMTSO projects and plans, and network with attendees from many diverse sectors of the cybersecurity world. We have posted the first tranche of slide decks and recordings to our member site with more coming soon, and will be sharing edited recordings of most sessions publicly over the next few weeks.
Our next event will be another Testing Town Hall call, currently scheduled for early December – we hope to share details of the speakers and topics shortly. Preparations for the following Town Hall in March are already under way.
Working Groups
We heard updates from all our active projects and working groups in Brussels last week, including a review of our Multiscanner Engine Quality Certification from our Chairman Luis Corrons, a look at plans for v3.0 of our RTTL threat-intel sharing system from AMTSO CTO Alexander Vukcevic, and overviews of our recently-published guidelines on testing Agentic AI Security, Scam & Phishing Testing, Testing App Promises, and AI-related updates to our Sandbox Evaluation Framework released in parallel with the AI guidance. We also covered our Security Features Check toolkit and XDR Product Data, with updates and new features planned for both. Ideas emerging from discussions in and around the event include proposals to benchmark security of emerging LLMs, and a potential pooled test dispute framework. All of this and more will be analysed and discussed by our working groups as they re-form in the wake of the event.
AMTSO Standard and Test Calendar
The latest updates to our Test Calendar include AV-Test‘s latest Android testing data, the latest consumer testing from MRG Effitas, and the October round of VB100 certifications from Virus Bulletin. We still await Q3 outcomes from SE Labs and the main line of MRG Effitas testing, all expected shortly. Here’s a summary of recent activities from our Standard compliance team:
- Public Test Notifications were issued for the following new tests.
- Virus Bulletin (VB) for their Q4’2026 VBSpam Test (AMTSO Test ID: AMTSO-LS1-TP217) on Thursday, October 15th, 2026.
- TGL (Testing Ground Labs) for their October 2026 Consumer Android Malware Detection Test (AMTSO Test ID: AMTSO-LS1-TP218) on Friday, October 16th, 2026.
- Compliance Reports were issued covering these tests following their Phase 2 Commentary Collection periods.
- AV-TEST for their July-August 2026 Windows 11 Virus Protection Test Report for Home Users (AMTSO Test ID: AMTSO-LS1-TP188) and Business Users (AMTSO Test ID: AMTSO-LS1-TP187) on Wednesday, October 7th, 2026.
- Testing Ground Labs (TGL) for their August 2026 Consumer Android Malware Detection Test Report (AMTSO Test ID: AMTSO-LS1-TP211) and Enterprise Android Malware Detection Test Report (AMTSO Test ID: AMTSO-LS1-TP212) on Monday, October 12th , 2026.
- MRG-Effitas for their September 2026 Consumer Assessment and Certification Test (AMTSO-LS1-TP213) on Monday, October 19th, 2026.
- Phase 2 Commentary Collection remains active for the following tests.
- AppEsteem’s April-October testing as part of their 2026 UwS Test Series reports (AMTSO Test ID : AMTSO-LS1-TP180) opened on Monday, October 26th, 2026.
- Venak Security’s Q4 2026 Zero-Day AV/EDR Test Report (AMTSO Test ID: AMTSO-LS1-TP214) with early opening on Monday, October 26th, 2026.
- AV-TEST’s September 2026 Test Report covering Android Antivirus Applications (AMTSO Test ID: AMTSO-LS1-TP184) opened on Tuesday, October 27th, 2026.
Information on all published and upcoming tests being tracked by AMTSO can be found in our Test Calendar.
Board and Management
The majority of our Board made it to Brussels last week for a day of in-person discussions, with dial-in available for those unable to make the trip. A wide range of topics were covered with plenty of new ideas to move AMTSO forward over the next year. The next formal meeting of the Board will be in mid-November.
Membership
This week we welcomed three new members into our community, Appsalt, Dignity New Zealand, and TLPBlack, with several more new joins coming up shortly. Anyone interested in becoming an AMTSO member can find more information on our joining page.
ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER
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