F-Secure: Inside the cage

F-Secure has antivirus labs in Helsinki and Kuala Lumpur, with approximately 550 staff overall. Of the 350 staff at the headquarters in Finland, 16 are antivirus researchers working in the core response labs. The researchers work on a shift basis, and communicate through chat channels, according to F-Secure technical specialist Sean Sullivan.

The researchers test malware samples and push out updates. As they look at assembly level code, they require the ability to "dig deeper" into code, according to Sullivan.