[R] R 2.12.0 - malware detect by antivirus software

[Paulo Barata]

Dear Dr. Murdoch,

My thanks to you and to Dr. Ligges for your replies.

I will do my part and will inform Avira about what happened.
If possible, I will send then the R 2.12.0 installation
file for their examination. As Dr. Ligges said, it is quite
possible indeed that a false positive alarm has happened.

But please allow me to point out that Avira, as far as I know,
is considered to be one of the best pieces of antivirus software
in the market. See, for instance, the AV Comparatives web site at
www.av-comparatives.org. No antivirus software is 100% perfect,
that is, in the real world there is no software with a 0% false
positive rate. Or, looking from the other side, every antivirus
software is "sloppy" in some way. Considering that fact,
shouldn't the R core team have some definite policy with regard
to false positive alarms concerning the R installation file?
Is this the first time that this happened? Will this be the last
time?

Best regards,

Paulo Barata

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On 17/10/2010 17:10, Duncan Murdoch wrote:
> Uwe Ligges wrote:
>> I checked with two online services which ran more than 40
>> different virus scanners on the file and only Avira gave a
>> warning. Hence I assume it is a false positive with Avira and you
>> can go on with the installation.
>>
>> @ Duncan as the maintainer for the binary setup installer: It
>> might make sense to report the false positive to Avira in order to
>> protect ourselves from dozens of messages on this list tomorrow.
>> Additionally, you may want to add a note on the CRAN download page.
>>
>
> I don't think so. False positives from sloppy virus checkers are too
> common. Paulo may want to help out Avira by pointing out their
> error, but I won't.
>
> Duncan Murdoch
>
>> Best wishes,
>> Uwe Ligges
>>
>> On 17.10.2010 20:18, Paulo Barata wrote:
>>> Dear R-list members,
>>>
>>> I have just downloaded R 2.12.0 for Windows. When installing,
>>> my antivirus software detected some malware during the
>>> installation process.
>>>
>>> I use Windows XP SP3. My antivirus software is Avira Premium
>>> Security Suite, product version 10.0.0.542 (19/4/2010),
>>> search engine 8.02.04.82 (14/10/2010), virus definition file
>>> 7.10.12.231 (17/10/2010). That software said: "Malware found".
>>> When I clicked in "details", I found this information: object:
>>> open.exe; Detection: TR/ATRAPS.Gen. Consulting the Avira web
>>> site, this is indicated as a Trojan, dated 15 May 2008.
>>>
>>> I have repeated the installation process twice, always with
>>> the same malware detection. When installing, I used the English
>>> language, I ticked the "Technical Manuals", "PDF help pages"
>>> and "docs for Packages grid and Matrix", and I used the
>>> default options.
>>>
>>> Should I proceed with the installation of that version of R?
>>>
>>> Thank you very much.
>>>
>>> Paulo Barata
>>>
>>> --------------------------------------------------------------
>>> Paulo Barata
>>> Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz - Oswaldo Cruz Foundation
>>> Rua Leopoldo Bulhoes 1480 - 8A
>>> 21041-210 Rio de Janeiro - RJ
>>> Brazil
>>>
>>> E-mail: pbarata at infolink.com.br
>>> Alternative e-mail: paulo.barata at ensp.fiocruz.br
>>>
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>
>
>