A new contest running at the DefCon hacker conference this year (held in Las Vegas in August) is already stirring up controversy. It will challenge hackers to design malware that can’t be detected by anti-virus programs such as ones offered by Symantec and McAfee.

Awards will be given for “Most elegant obfuscation,” “Dirtiest hack of an obfuscation,” “Comedy value” and “Most deserving of beer,” contest organizers say.

Anti-virus firm Sophos reckons the exercise will serve only to increase the volume of malware in circulation, further taxing the resources of already hard-pressed security firms.