The EICAR Standard Anti-Virus Test File or EICAR test file is a computer file that was developed by the European Institute for Computer Antivirus Research (EICAR) and Computer Antivirus Research Organization (CARO), to test the response of computer antivirus (AV) programs. It allows programmers to test their software without having to use a real computer virus that could cause damage should the anti-virus protective program not respond correctly. EICAR promotes the use of a non-destructive simulation instead of an actual computer virus, for greater safety.
AV programmers set the EICAR string as a verified virus, similar to other identified signatures. A compliant virus scanner, when detecting the file, will respond in exactly the same manner as if it found genuinely harmful code. Its use can be more versatile than straightforward detection: a file containing the EICAR test string can be compressed or archived, and then the antivirus software can be run to see whether it can detect the test string in the compressed file.
Read more about EICAR Test File: Design
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