February 2011 - Virus Bulletin RAP Averages Quadrant, August 2010 through February 2011

Virus Bulletin has released their latest RAP Averages Quadrant, representing August 2010 through February 2011 data.

Those achieving greater than 90% for Reactive Detection and greater than 70% for Proactive Detection on the RAP Averages Quadrant were Kaspersky AV, AVG Technologies, Kaspersky IS, Avast, eScan, ESET Bkis BKAV Home Plus, G-DATA, TrustPort, Zeobit, Check Point, Avira Free, and Coranti. Coranti received the highest score for Proactive Detection and TrustPort for Reactive Detection at about 98% and 91% respectively. Ikarus didn’t clear the 90% hurdle on the most recent test, so that didn’t make the cut. .

Once again, internet security providers Symantec and McAfee will not be bragging about their results on this particular test. Kingsoft was the major laggard, however.

On the previous test, those achieving greater than 90% for Reactive Detection and greater than 70% for Proactive Detection on the RAP Averages Quadrant were Kaspersky, Avast!, Ikarus, eScan, AVG Technologies, Avira Pro, Bkis BKAV Home Plus, G DATA, MicroSafe, Avira Free, ZeoBit, Coranti, and TrustPort. TrustPort had the highest Reactive Detection rate and ZeoBit the highest Proactive Detection rate. http://kensek.blogspot.com/2010/12/december-virus-bulletin-rap-averages.html

This test measures products' detection rates across four distinct sets of malware samples. The first three test sets comprise malware first seen in each of the three weeks prior to product submission. These measure how quickly product developers and labs react to the steady flood of new malware emerging every day across the world. A fourth test set consists of malware samples first seen in the week after product submission.

This test set is used to gauge products' ability to detect new and unknown samples proactively, using heuristic and generic techniques. A detailed description can be viewed at http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/vb200902-RAP-tests

The relative performance of vendors can best be viewed by looking at the RAP Averages Quadrant (August 2010 through February 2011) chart at http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/latest_comparative/index. Subscribers to Virus Bulletin's publications have access to more details on the results.

UK based Virus Bulletin www.virusbtn.com started in 1989. The organization provides PC users with a regular source of intelligence about computer viruses, their prevention, detection and removal, and how to recover programs and data following an attack. VB’s website is at www.virusbtn.com . The site is a great source of information on malware and spam. They are a member of the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization, www.AMTSO.org.