August 2011 – Virus Bulletin RAP Averages Quadrant, February 2011 through August 2011, Steve Jobs

November update - go to a more current write-up at http://kensek.blogspot.com/2011/11/october-2011-virus-bulletin-rap.html

Virus Bulletin released their latest RAP Averages Quadrant, representing February 2011 through August 2011 data. The bar gets set higher on this blog for a mention since almost 30 companies achieved greater than 90% on Reactive Detection and 80% on Proactive Detection. The standard this time, 90% Reactive and Proactive. Ten companies met this threshold; in approximate order - Bkis, Coranti, TrustPort, BullGuard, G Data, F-Secure IS, Avira Pro, Kaspersky Pure, Nifty (who the heck are they?) and Check Point.

Coranti, TrustPort and BullGuard were among the top four during the December 2010 through June 2011 test. Congratulations for consistency.

Double kudos to Avira and Kaspersky. These two companies had products that received the only 3 stars in AV-Comparatives.org’s Anti-Virus Comparative Retrospective test (static detection of new/unknown malicious software) earlier this year. http://kensek.blogspot.com/2011/05/av-comparatives-retrospective-test.html

What’s with Kingsoft solutions? They’ve consistently been in the lower left hand corner of the grid with around 15%/20% with respect to Reactive/Proactive Detection. In their case, consistency is bad.

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

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.

Best Wishes to Steve Jobs

Applause and best wishes to Steve Jobs and his family. To the extent he wants/demands it; he should be given his privacy. Jobs has been an icon, introducing some “insanely great” products to the world. He’s been a fanatic on product design. The 1984 Super Bowl advertisement was a classic. He may also, on a humorous note; be remembered for his “don’t hold it that way” comment…. regarding the iPhone's earlier reception problems. He drove the growth of Pixar before selling it to Disney for a gazillion dollars.

The computer mouse and GUI may have originally been developed by PARC (Palo Alto Research Center). However, it was Jobs and Apple that took these technology leaps, saw their value and introduced them into widespread use. Fortune Magazine recognized Steve Jobs as the CEO of the Decade in 2009.

Interesting books to read - “iCon: Steve Jobs, the Greatest Second Act in the History of Business”. “Options: The Secret Life of Steve Jobs - A Parody”. The Woz introduced the author at a book signing at Kepler’s books in Menlo Park, California in 2007, when the book came out. Wozniak was hilarious. Yes, I was there. Also, “The Journey Is the Reward” by Jeffrey S. Young, a biography about Jobs.