Reliable source for information on malware behaviour?

Question

Many moons ago, I seem to remember that it was relatively easy to find information on what was the behaviour of particular pieces of malware (as in, "inserts automatic start-up items in registry, collects passwords from x, y and z locations, connects to IRC at xxx.xxx.com" etc. etc. This would usually be followed by removal instructions (which could be "reinstall OS").

However, this does not seem to be the case anymore, at least if Google is taken as a source of information. Searching for malware on Google by name seems to be more likely to lead you to pages owned by scammers trying to get you to install something than to useful information, and even the websites that belong to companies that make anti-malware software are very light on tech info.

So, the question is... is there still a reliable source of (detailed) technical information on malware behaviour somewhere on the net? Web forum, mailing list, newsgroup...?

Answer 1

Any of your major Antivirus vendors will have a database detailing behaviors.

• McAfee Avert® Labs Threat Library
• TrendMicro's Research and Analysis page
• Symantec (Norton) AntiVirus Threat Explorer
• Eset (Nod32) Threat Encyclopedia
• AVG's Virus Encyclopedia

And F-Secure's that John T has already listed.

Answer 2

F-Secure has a virus & spyware description database which outlines detailed information on what each malicious piece of software does.

Answer 3

So does Symantec. You may think of their software whatever you want, but their virus database (now known as Threat Explorer) has always been a first class resource.