AV-TEST Product Review and Certification Report – September, October 2012

During September and October 2012, AV-test (www.av-test.org ) evaluated 24 home user security products using their default settings.  They used the most current publicly available versions   for the testing. Generally, they were the 2013 versions.  Products were allowed to update themselves   time query their in-the-cloud services.  The test was done on Windows 7.

The   consumer   internet security products were tested in the areas of protection, repair, and usability.  The highest score possible in each category was 6.0.  So, the best possible total score was 18.0. The test was on Windows 7.   You’ll have to go to the av-test.org web site for the individual scores and to download free one-page reports on each of the companies. 

The top ten finishers were, Bitdefender Internet Security (they lost their only point on Usability), F-Secure Internet Security, BullGuard Internet Security, Kaspersky Internet Security, Symantec: Norton Internet Security, Check Point Zone Alarm Free, G Data Internet Security, Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security, Avast Free, and AVG Internet Security.  Check Point and Avast had the top free products.

BitDefender isn't as well known to the thronging masses as a number of other AV or Internet Security companies.  They are active in the OEM business, offering SDK and rebranding alternatives for endpoint, network,  and cloud protection. In these situations (of course), you may never realize that BitDefender is under the hood.

 http://www.bitdefender.com/oem/#Overview

Microsoft Security Essentials failed the test with 10.5 while McAfee, Norman, and Panda were on the bubble at 11.0. This is a major black eye for the Microsoft Security Essentials product. They scored only 1.5 out of 6 for Protection.  For Removal, 3.5, and Usability, 5.5.

The top ten products are in the table below.  Click on the table to enlarge it.

 

As with all the other tests performed by reputable test groups, there's not a lot of correlation between the best known products and test results.

In March/April testing, the top three products were from BitDefender, F-Secure, and Kaspersky, respectively. 

 http://kensek.blogspot.com/2012/06/av-test-product-review-and.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.

October 2012 Virus Bulletin VB100 Awards and RAP Averages Quadrant (Reactive and Proactive)

Virus Bulletin has released their October 2012 VB100 testing and published their RAP Averages Quadrant for the April through October timeframe.  Neither test results were too exciting.  No companies going irate and withdrawing from further testing, in all likelihood. 

The VB100 testing was done on Windows Server 2003.  Only 30 products were in the test.  One third of the products failed.  There were no “major” vendors failing.  Emisoft has failed three out of the last four VB100 tests they have been in.  This can’t be fun for their marketing department.

There were three clusters of vendors who scored over 95% in Reactive Detection and 80% in proactive detection.  It’s not even worth eyeballing to rank within the clusters.  These vendors are (from first to third)

1. Zeobit, Coranti (clear winners)
2. Lavasoft, TrustPort, G Data 
3. Fortinet, Avira Free, Avira Pro, Roboscan, BitDefender, BullGuard, Emisoft, eScan

There was definitely some movement from the previous test. Congratulations,  in particular, to those in “1” and “2” above!

The Top 10 in the February through August test

1. Coranti (a clear first among the top 10)
2. Huari (a clear second among the top 10)
3. Tencent
4. Lavasoft
5. BitDefender
6. G Data
7. Avira Pro
8. TrustPort
9. Emisoft
10. Avira Free

Hall of Shame awards in the latest test for scoring below 70% on Reactive Detection and below 65% of Proactive Detection (from best to worst), Commtouch, Frisk, Iolo, Total Defense Business, and UnThreat.  No fun for these companies http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/latest_comparative/index

Tests like these provide  useful information in evaluating the relative strengths of the products.  It obviously wins out over the wisdom of Facebook fans clicking on like!  You can view 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.

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.  They provide 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

 

October 2012 AV-Comparatives Dynamic Real World Protection Test

AV-Comparatives has released their report for their Dynamic Real World Protection Test, illustrating results alphabetically by vendor.  This report is for October.  Looking at results in order of performance is much more interesting!  

The top three vendors scored 100% and the next two 99.6%.  Quite nice!

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

The Dynamic Real World Protection Test (alphabetical results) is available on the AV-Comparatives web site.   The nice thing about the Whole Product Dynamic Real World Protection Test done by AV-Comparatives.org is that you can select the timeframe.  A four-month report will be available in December.

The freemium vendors – Avast (eighth), Avira (ninth), and AVG  Technologies (seventeenth).  PC Tools (twentieth, 89.9%) and Webroot (twenty- first, 91.0%) brought up the rear. 

To read Webroot’s blog on AV-Comparatives’ Real World Test (they are not fond of it), go to http://blog.webroot.com/2012/07/19/webroot-bulletin-regarding-av-comparatives-results/

As always, it's best to be informed about results. There is some truth to about the wisdom of crowds. With respect to  capture rates and Facebook fans? Not so much.  

 

About AV-comparatives     www.av-comparatives.org

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