September AV-Test Product Review and Certification Report – July through August 2012

During July and August, AV-Test (www.AV-Test.org) tested twenty-three consumer   internet security products (for the most part) in the areas of protection, repair, and usability.  The highest score possible in each category was 6.0.  The test was on Windows XP.  Go to their   web site for the individual component scores and to download free one-page reports on each of the companies’ products tested.  The web site does not total and rank the results.  Two products failed certification, from Lavasoft and AhnLab.  Note that most of these were performed with 2012 products.  It’s only since late August and early September that the 2013 products have been rolling out.  Avast had the only free product among the top scorers.

AV-Test Top Four Scores July through August Test

• Kaspersky Internet Security 2012 & 2013 -17.0
• BitDefender Internet Security 2012 - 16.5
• Check Point ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus + Firewall 10.2 - 16.0
• Avast Free AntiVirus 7.0 - 15.0
• Avira Internet Security 2012 - 15.0
• Symantec Norton Internet Security 2012 - 15.0

 F-Secure's  score  dropped to 14.5 in the latest test.This dropped them to seventh overall.

AV-Test Top Four Scores - May through June Test

• BitDefender Internet Security 2012 – 17.0
• Kaspersky Internet Security 2012 – 16.5
• F-Secure Internet Security 2012 – 16.5
• Check Point Zone Alarm Free Antivirus – 16.0 

Kaspersky Internet Security 2012 was AV-Comparatives,  www.av-comparatives.org , Product of the Year, with BitDefender Internet Security 2012, F-Secure Internet Security, and Avira Internet Security 2012 receiving  Top Rated recognition.

There are many test groups out there.  You should also look at test results from Virus Bulletin www.virusbtn.com   and AV-comparatives www.av-comparatives.org   as well.

To see some of the scores the 2013 internet products have been receiving from reviewers, go to 

http://kensek.blogspot.com/2012/09/best-internet-security-suites-2013-best.html

About AV-Test.org http://www.av-test.org

The AV-TEST Institute is a leading international and independent service provider in the fields of IT security and anti-virus research.  The aim of the research work carried out by AV-TEST is to directly detect the latest malware, to analyze it using state-of-the-art methods and to inform their customers of the top-quality results obtained.  

July AV-Test Product Review and Certification Report – May Through June 2012

During May and June, AV-Test (www.AV-Test.org   ) tested twenty-five consumer   internet security products in the areas of protection, repair, and usability.  The highest score possible in each category was 6.0.  The test was on Windows 7. Go  to their   web site for the individual scores and to download free one-page reports on each of the companies.  The web site doesn’t total and rank the results.  No products failed certification. McAfee barely received certification, with the low score of 11.0.

AV-Test Top Scores  - May Through June Test

• BitDefender Internet Security 2012 – 17.0
• Kaspersky Internet Security 2012 – 16.5
• F-Secure Internet Security 2012 – 16.5
• Check Point Zone Alarm Free Antivirus – 16.0

Newly added to the test, Check Point ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus + Firewall, Fortinet FortiClient Lite and Lavasoft Ad-Aware Free Antivirus.

Kaspersky Internet Security 2012 was  www.av-comparatives.org  Product of the Year, with BitDefender Internet Security 2012, F-Secure Internet Security, and Avira Internet Security 2012 receiving  Top Rated recognition.

AV-Test Top Products  in the March April Test  

• BitDefender Internet Security – 17.0
• Kaspersky Internet Security  - 16.5
• F-Secure Internet Security - 16.0
• G Data Internet Security  16.0

To see a table of the top ten and the scores  for this test and the scores, go to http://kensek.blogspot.com/2012/06/av-test-product-review-and.html

  

There are many test groups out there.  You should also look at test results from Virus Bulletin www.virusbtn.com  and AV-comparatives www.av-comparatives.org  as well.

About AV-Test.org  http://www.av-test.org

The AV-TEST Institute is a leading international and independent service provider in the fields of IT security and anti-virus research.  The aim of the research work carried out by AV-TEST is to directly detect the latest malware, to analyze it using state-of-the-art methods and to inform their customers of the top-quality results obtained.   

Virus Bulletin RAP Averages Quadrant, December 2011 through June 2012

Virus Bulletin has released their latest RAP Averages Quadrant, representing December 2011 through June 2012.  The top 10 (some eyeballing necessary):

1. Coranti
2. Coranti Cora
3. Auslogics
4. TrustPort
5. G Data
6. BullGuard
7. Avira Pro
8. ESTSoft
9. Tencent
10. Avira Free

The top three were in a clear cluster by themselves with the next seven in a separate cluster. 

From the October 2011 through April 2012 report; some eyeballing necessary):

1. Coranti
2. Lavasoft
3. Auslogics
4. G Data
5. BitDefender
6. ESTSoft (?)  (Could be Emisoft)
7. TrustPort
8. Avira Free
9. Avira Pro
10. Kaspersky ES

 All of the top 10 on the latest RAP Averages Quadrant  achieved greater than 90% on Reactive Detection and   80% Proactive Detection.  This was down a bit on the Proactive Detection side from the previous report.   

Neither Symantec nor Trend Micro are present on this RAP Averages Quadrant.  PC Tools, owned by Symantec, is.  Iolo had the worst Reactive Detection at around 55%.  UnThreat the worst Proactive Detection, at around 40%.

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.

RAP Averages Quadrant

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.

About Virus Bulletin www.virusbtn.com

Virus Bulletin started in 1989 as a magazine dedicated to providing PC users with a regular source of intelligence about computer malware - its prevention, detection, and removal.  In addition, how to recover programs and data following an attack.

Virus Bulletin VB100 Awards – June 2012

Virus Bulletin has released their latest VB100 awards results for June.  Just under forty participants were tested.   The test was done on Windows Server 2008.  The previous test was done on Windows XP.   

There were only a handful   of companies whose tested product failed to receive a VB100 award, AVG Technologies, Bkis, Commtouch, and TrustPort.  

A summary of the results is  at the link below.  You can   buy the full test results or subscribe to Virus Bulletin for the full results, as well. 

http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archive/test?recent=1  

Results from this should be looked at in conjunction with tests from other test groups such as www.av-test.org  and www.av-comparatives.org .  Also,   it’s not how the company has performed on the VB100 test over years.  It’s only the last couple of years that are relevant.

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   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.  The Virus Bulletin website is at www.virusbtn.com

 

Whole Product Dynamic Real World Protection Test – March through June 2012

AV-Comparatives.org has released their latest Whole Product Dynamic Real World Protection Test – March through June 2012.  The advantage of this document versus a  report or blog covering a single month is that since  it covers a longer period, it  better portrays the products’ performance.  The top 5 products over this time period (you’ll have to look at the report for percentages) in order, were

1.       BitDefender
2.       G Data
3.       Kaspersky
4.       QiHoo
5.       F-Secure

All the top five had a protection rate of greater than 99%.  The top finish among the major free vendors was Avira, in eighth, out of twenty-one.  The “why did I participate in this” finishers were Ahnlab and Webroot (protection rate of 90.9%), in the twenty and twenty first positions, respectively. There’s a great interactive chart on the web site that permits you to play with time periods. Note that none of the more well known products are in the top five, with the exception of Kaspersky, who may  overtake Trend Micro this year in total revenue.

As always, this is just one test.  Individuals or companies evaluating the ability of products to detect and capture malware should visit www.av-comparatives.org , www.virusbtn.com   and www.av-test.org    to view the results of other tests.  The nice thing about these organizations is that they tend to use relatively large samples in testing, which improves the legitimacy of the results.  There is more to product quality than a number of "likes" on a Facebook fan page.

About AV-comparatives     www.av-comparatives.org

AV-Comparatives is an Austrian Non-Profit-Organization, which is providing independent Anti-Virus software tests free to the public.  Go to their website to view all the great comparative reports and surveys they publish.