Jeffrey Wu joined our AMTSO board of directors last summer. He founded Testing Ground Labs (TGLabs) four years ago, and he has been in the industry for over 15 years. TGLabs offers tests in the enterprise and consumer security fields, on the Windows and Android platforms. His lab focuses on malware, phishing and spam detection tests and is on a mission to challenge standards to evaluate enterprise product testing. We invited him to speak to us about his business, differences between cyber attacks in Asia, Europe and the U.S., and enterprise testing.
Jeffrey, you have been in the testing industry already for more than fifteen years. What brought you the idea to found Testing Ground Labs (TGLabs)? Did you identify any market gap that you wanted to fill with TGLabs?
People’s habits have changed significantly over the past 15 years, and especially the ones related to IT equipment and electronics. I wanted to adapt to this change with a new testing organization. Testing organizations need to adapt their testing portfolios and methodologies and add new testing categories to accommodate this change.
What distinguishes TGLabs from other testing institutions in the market?
Our data collection channels have a strong focus on Asia.
Your test lab focuses on malware, phishing and spam detection tests. Do you observe different types of phishing and spam attacks in Asia than in Europe and the U.S., and if so, what are the major differences?
Phishing in China is mainly about asking for your Apple account or tricking you into sending money. Phishing in Europe and America is relatively more diverse. Overall, phishing in China is much more targeted. Also it is worth adding that we consider ourselves as a good supplier of the spam feeds to our customers.
In your view, over the past fifteen years, how have cyber attacks changed the way how enterprise and consumer security products need to work in order to be efficient? Are there any new features and functionality you’re looking for today in your tests that you didn’t look at ten, fifteen years ago?
Cybersecurity is definitely broader now than it was ten years ago and it’s expanded to more platforms. For example, ten years ago almost no one cared about the matter of cell phone security, but now many people care more about cell phone security than their computers.
You say you’re on a mission to challenge standards to evaluate enterprise product testing. What kind of unique approaches in enterprise product testing does TGLabs offer?
If we were to test an enterprise version of security software, we would focus not only on the tirade of detection rate, performance and false positive resistance, but more importantly, we might assess the level of threat visibility information delivered to a security officer, as well as management capabilities of the enterprise IT equipment and meet the customization requirements of the enterprise.
You’re a new board member of AMTSO. What role does AMTSO play for TGLabs?
AMTSO provides TGLabs with a broader platform to reach out to various vendors and gives TGLabs’ reports more credibility to ensure customers about the high quality of the test execution.
Thanks for your time for this interview, Jeffrey!