Virus Bulletin June VB100 Awards

Virus Bulletin has released their latest VB100 awards results. Thirty-two antivirus internet security solutions received a VB100 award. Eleven antivirus internet security solutions failed to make the grade. Not in the test were some major vendors - McAfee, Symantec, and Trend Micro. The tests were done on Windows Server 2008.

Among those receiving the VB100 award, in market share order: Avast, Avira, AVG Technologies, BitDefender, Eset¸ F-Secure, and Kaspersky. Coranti did not receive a VB100. They were one of the top three products in the latest RAP Averages Quadrant, representing December 2010 through June 2011 data. G Data also failed to receive the award. http://kensek.blogspot.com/2011/04/april-2011-virus-bulletin-rap-averages.html

OPSWAT Market Share Combined With VB100 Success Rate

The following table is a combines vendor market share from the OPSWAT June Market Share Report and company success rate obtaining VB100 awards. To be included in the table they have to have (obviously) received a VB100 award in June and been in the OPSWAT June report.

The companies in the below are listed on the basis of market share. The number of tests the companies below participated in vary. A strong argument can be made that it's only the most recent tests that are relevant. Nonetheless, a number of companies do like to promote their extended track record when they market their VB100 success rate. These were the only companies in the 20 from the relevant OPSWAT table that made the cut. http://kensek.blogspot.com/2011/06/june-2011-opswat-report-on-worldwide.html















Data for the success rate came from http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archive/test?recent=1

VB100 Test Methodology

The purpose of the VB100 comparative is to provide insight into the relative performance of the solutions taking part in the tests, covering as wide a range of areas as possible within the limitations of time and available resources. More details are available at http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/about/methodology.xml

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.

June 2011 - Virus Bulletin RAP Averages Quadrant, December 2010 through June 2011

Virus Bulletin has released their latest RAP Averages Quadrant, representing December 2010 through June 2011 data. The “top” three firms by virtue of where they placed in the Quadrant are Bullguard, Coranti, and TrustPort.

Achieving greater that 90% for Reactive Detection and greater than 80% (the ante is upped from 70%!) on the RAP Averages Quadrant were (The order of these is from approximately left to upper right): AVG Technologies, Sophos, Sofscan, Kaspersky 6, F-Secure IS, Microsoft ForeFront, ESET, GFI, Qhoo, Kaspersky IS, Miscrosafe, ZeoBit, Avast, Lavasoft Total, G Data, F-Secure PS, eScan, Avira Free, Check Point, eScan, Bkis, Kaspersky Pure, Avira Pro, BullGuard, Coranti, and TrustPort.

TrustPort had the highest Proactive Detection with Coranti and Bullguard the highest (tie) Proactive detection. the changes in the top three versus the previous test. Avira Free and LavaSoft Total slipped a bit. Approximately 40% of the software in the RAP Averages Quadrant met the 80%/90% criteria.

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 Bkis, AVG, Symantec, Kaspersky, Avast, F-Secure, MicroSafe, eScan, ESET, ZeoBit, UnThreat, G-Data, Avira (Pro and Free), Check Point, TrustPort, Coranti, Lavasoft Total, and Kaspersky Pure. Avira Free had the top Reactive Detection. Coranti and LavaSoft Total had the highest Proactive Detection. http://kensek.blogspot.com/2011/04/april-2011-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 (October 2010 through June 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.

On another note, CA has sold off their securities business unit to Up Data partners: http://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2011/06/20/ca-technologies-total-defense-inc-split.aspx

UK based Virus Bulletin 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.

Titanium Maximum Security 2012 – Trend Micro Beta

Beta testing for internet security 2012 and antivirus 2012 solutions are rolling along. Trend Micro currently has three consumer products in beta, Titanium Maximum Security, Titanium Internet Security, and Titanium Antivirus. You can learn more about these, and register to download beta product at their beta portal. https://www.trendbeta.com/pages/main

Consumer Products in Beta

# Titanium Maximum Security 5.0 EB 2
# Titanium Internet Security 5.0 EB 2
# Titanium Antivirus+ 5.0 EB 2

One of their differentiators over several of their competitors is that they use cloud technology to stop viruses and spyware.

Trend Micro is promoting the following features for their Titanium Internet Security beta (non of which can be described as new)

Antivirus, Antispyware, Anti-phishing, Web threat protection, Antispam, Data theft protection, Parental controls, and System tuner.

For their Titanium Maximum Security product, Trend Micro is promoting the following features (non of which can really be described as new)

Antivirus, Antispyware, Anti-phishing, Web threat protection, Antispam, Data theft protection, Parental controls, System tuner, Social networking security (Facebook, Twitter & more), Mobile protection (Android, iOS, Symbian & Windows), Secure erase/e-file shredder, Remote file lock, and 10 GB of secure online storage with sync & sharing.

Trend Micro Also Has a Dozen Business Products in Beta

* Threat Intelligence Manager 1.0
* Trend Micro Mobile Security 7.0
* SecureCloud 1.2
* Portal Protect 2.1
* Trend Micro Control Manager 5.5 Service Pack 1
* OfficeScan 10.6
* Intrusion Defense Firewall 1.5
* Deep Security 8.0 ETAP
* InterScan Web Security Virtual Appliance 5.5
* Advanced Reporting and Management for IWSx 1.5
* ScanMail for Exchange 10.2
* InterScan Messaging Security Virtual Appliance 8.2

Third Party Testing

Trend Micro hasn’t participated in Virus Bulletin (www.virusbtn.com) VB100 testing since 2008 http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archive/vendor?id=3

Titanium Internet Security 2011 received certification from av-test.org, scoring 3.5, 3.5, and 5.5 out of 6.0 for protection, repair, and usability. http://www.av-test.org/certifications.php This was for the Q1 2011 test using Windows 7.

Trend Micro did not participate in av-comparatives.org’s latest testing. www.av-comparatives.org

Titanium Maximum Security 2011 scored 3.5 out of 5.0 (tied for seventh out of 20) in PC Magazine testing. http://kensek.blogspot.com/2011/04/best-internet-security-suites-2011-pc.html

Trend Micro Titanium AV scored poorly with PC Magazine with 2.0 out of 5.0. http://kensek.blogspot.com/2010/11/best-antivirus-software-for-2011-pc.html . Webroot AV with Spysweeper topped all products with 4.5 out of 5.0.

The usual suspects, McAfee, Panda, Avast, Avira, AVG Technologies, Webroot, Kaspersky, G Data, F-Secure, among others, will be announcing their betas over the coming months.

It'll be interesting to see if any of the vendors come out with anything completely new in their feature set or whether the focus will be on filling perceived gaps versus their competitors.

Also in Beta

Norton Internet Security 2012 and Anti-Virus 2012 beta http://us.norton.com/beta/index.jsp

BitDefender Total Security 2012 http://beta2012.bitdefender.com

Internet Security 2012 – Norton Beta

Norton Internet Security 2012 and Norton Anti-Virus 2012 are in beta. Those internet security 2012 and anti-virus 2012 beta are starting to pick up.

Norton (Symantec) regarding their Internet Security 2012 and Anti-virus 2012 betas

• Fastest performance ever
• Industry-leading protection
• Easier to use Control Center and features

Other features promoted in Norton Internet Security 2012

• 4 layers of protection
• Customizable Control Center
• Identity Safe alerts have moved to the Norton Toolbar
• Bandwidth management
• Download Insight 2.0 tells how stable a download is before computer is put at risk

PC Magazine gave Norton Anti-Virus 2011 3.5 stars out of 5.0. They gave Norton Internet Security Suite 4.5 stars out of 5.0 http://kensek.blogspot.com/2011/04/best-internet-security-suites-2011-pc.html.

Symantec is 8 for 10 in the last VB100 evaluations they’ve been in. http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archive/vendor?id=4 . Their 2011 internet security suite received Q1 2011 certification from av-test.org http://www.av-test.org/certifications.php

To check out Norton Internet Security 2012 beta or Anti-Virus 2012 beta, go to http://us.norton.com/beta/index.jsp

The usual suspects, McAfee, Trend Micro, Panda, Avast, Avira, AVG Technologies, Webroot, Kaspersky, G Data, F-Secure, among others, will be announcing their betas over the coming months.

Also in Beta

BitDefender Total Security 2012 http://beta2012.bitdefender.com

June 2011 OPSWAT Report on Worldwide Antivirus Application Market Share

OPSWAT Inc. has published their report on “Security Industry Market Share Analysis”. The results may not mesh completely with the results published by the vendors themselves (surprise!). The data OPSWAT used was collected between March 23, 2011 and May 15, 2011.

Worldwide Market Share Leaders – Companies

The top 3 companies with respect to worldwide market share were

• Avast Software – 12.37% (1st in March report)
• AVG Technologies – 12.37% (3rd in March report)
• Avira – 12.29% (2nd in March report)

Avast had around a 4% drop between the March and June report. Ouch! Microsoft showed a similar gain over the last reporting period.

The table in the document lists the top 15. Microsoft leads in North America vendor market share with 17.07%. Other companies in the top 15 in the worldwide market share table include, Microsoft, Eset, Symantec, Kaspersky, McAfee, and Panda.

Worldwide Market Share Leaders - Product

• Microsoft Security Essentials – 10.66% (was 3rd in March report)
• Avira Antivir Personal – 10.18% (was 2nd in March report)
• Avast Free Antivirus – 8.66% (was 1st in March report)

The table in the report contains the top 15. Microsoft leads in North American Antivirus product market share with 15.68%. This was a substantial increase over March’s 10.2%.

The report also contains information about Windows Operating System Deployments, and Instant Messenger market share.

Large Number of Vendors but Consolidated Industry

According to OPSWAT, in North America, fifty-one different antivirus vendors were detected. The top five of those vendors combined to control 62.80% of the antivirus market. The worldwide market is slightly more distributed, with sixty-two vendors and 58.25% of the antivirus market controlled by the top five vendors.

Opswat Market Share Reports

Opswat market share reports are available at http://www.opswat.com/media/reports

About OPSWAT

Founded in 2002, OPSWAT provides soft¬ware engineers and IT professionals with development tools and data services to power manageability and security solutions. www.opswat.com

Internet Security 2012 – BitDefender Beta

Start your internet security, antivirus, malware engines. BitDefender has released Beta2 for Internet Security 2012.

Enhancements include: Autopilot, Scan Dispatcher, Rescue Mode, Online Backup (improved), Integrated Cloud Services, Social Networking Protection, File Sync, Flexible interface, and Streamlined installation. http://beta2012.bitdefender.com/ for complete information.

New Feature - An enhancement to a product that the customer likes and/or can use.

Bloatware – An enhancement to a product the customer does not like or cannot use.

Streamlined installation - This is kind of an annual. Vendors can announce this every year.

Rescue mode – Different vendors have different spins on implementing this.

Online backup – This has become a checklist feature. It’s either included with the product, with more memory available for a few dollars more, or is introduced as a separate (free) product that can be upgraded.

The usual suspects, McAfee, Trend Micro, Panda, Avast, Avira, AVG Technologies, Webroot, Kaspersky, G Data, F-Secure, eScan, among others, will be announcing their betas over the coming months. To view PC Magazine’s take on the best Internet Security suites of 2011, go to http://kensek.blogspot.com/2011/04/best-internet-security-suites-2011-pc.html . For PC World’s view of the Internet Security 2011 universe, go to http://kensek.blogspot.com/2011/02/pc-world-pc-magazine-and-aboutcom.html

Download the product, find a wifi connection while having something to eat around Claude Debussylaan and put BitDefender beta through its paces.