white-papers-cfet-2011-man-myth-malware-multi-scanning.pdf

This CFET 2011 paper by ESET and VirusTotal reviews the evolution, legitimate uses and widespread misuse of multi-engine file-scanning services (like VirusTotal), illustrates risks using examples such as the TDSS/TDL malware family and blackhat testing services that avoid sharing samples, and explains why on-demand multi-scanning is an unreliable substitute for rigorous dynamic ‘whole product’ testing, robust sample validation, and forensic analysis.