EICAR test file - riskless method to test your antivirus and firewall solution
Disclaimer: There are more meaningful, and more advanced solutions to test your security solutions, but for a quick, simple, and riskless test, the upcoming test files are more than enough.
EICAR test file
The most common test file to test said solutions is the EICAR Anti-Virus Test File. The European Institute for Computer Antivirus Research (EICAR) and Computer Antivirus Research Organization (CARO) developed the test file, and is in the end a simple text file with a plain string of ASCII characters.
X5O!P%@AP[4\PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!$H+H*
Most solutions will prevent you from downloading it or put it into quarantine, since it will be treated as a threat. That said, some providers - for example Malwarebytes [1][2] - refused to add fake malware / test files to their database since they don't see any benefits.
More information and the download link can be found here.
Some additional information about the EICAR test file:
- Anatomy of the EICAR Antivirus Test File
- EICAR‘s TEST FILE HISTORY
- The Use and Misuse of Test Files in Anti-Malware Testing
Vendor specific test files
Various vendors have specific test files for their solutions, but I am not too familiar with them.
- Broadcom SOCAR cloud test file
- Cisco AMP test file
- FireEye test files
- McAfee
- Palo Alto Networks test file + Additional Malware Test Files
- Panda cloud test file
Just use your favorite search engine to look for
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