Methodology for a field study of anti-malware software

Abstract

Anti-malware products are typically evaluated using structured, automated tests to allow for comparison with other products and for measuring improved efficiency against specific attacks. We propose that anti-malware testing would benefit from field studies assessing effectiveness in more ecologically valid settings. This paper presents our methodology for conducting a 4-month field study with 50 participants, including discussion of deployment and data collection, encouraging retention of participants, ethical concerns, and our experience to date. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.