Solomon?s sparks vote cheating row
Software developer pulls out of awards after claiming online voting system is open to abuse
A row has erupted in the antivirus software industry after Dr Solomon?s Software withdrew from the Secure Computing Awards, claiming that it was an unfair competition.
The row began after Solomon?s claimed that the online voting system was open to cheating and issued 1,500 spoof votes, which were traced by Secure Computing, before removing its products from the awards ceremony.
This is the second time in four weeks that cries of foul play have been bandied about the antivirus software industry. Two weeks ago, Dr Solomon?s itself was the target after McAfee accused it of having a ?cheat mode? in its toolkit to give favourable results in reviews (PC Dealer 23 April).
David Emm, senior technology consultant at Dr Solomon?s, said: ?We thought it was possible to cheat and so there was a danger that the results might not reflect the industry, so we made a decision early on that we didn?t want to be a part of it. We put in some false votes but that was to make a point. We told it we were doing it and made it easy to detect so that we weren?t then told we had been deliberately cheating.?
Secure Computing has rejected the accusations, claiming the voting was ?rigorously monitored?. According to Paul Robinson, editor of Secure Computing, Dr Solomon?s spoof votes were just one of 90 attempts detected by the judges.
Colin Bastable, reseller manager at Dr Solomon?s rival McAfee, said: ?This accusation by Dr Solomon?s has an ironic feel to it now it is accusing someone else of rigging results.?
- Symantec is investing $6 million in its Symantec Antivirus Research Centres (SARC) in the Netherlands, Australia and Japan. It is also looking to recruit third parties to become SARC Rapid Response Units.