Antivirus (Internet Security) Test Rankings from the East Side of the Pond

PC Magazine, PC World, and some publications in the UK, and Australia aren’t the only ones publishing best antivirus or best internet security test results for consumer antivirus and internet security solutions. German consumer goods tester Stiftung Warentest has also released a study.

Free virus scanners can provided adequate protection from Internet threats, according to Stiftung Warentest’s study. This test group tested 14 consumer products. The top four free products in this group’s testing:

1. Avira Free Antivirus
2. Avast Free Antivirus
3. AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition
4. Microsoft Security Essentials

The top paid for antivirus (internet security) solutions:

1. G Data Internet Security 2012
2. Avira Internet Security 2012
3. Kaspersky Internet Security 2012

Avira and Kaspersky were among www.av-comparatives.org four top rated products for 2011.

http://kensek.blogspot.com/2012/01/av-comparatives-summary-report-2011.html

http://www.newsfactor.com/news/Free-Antivirus-Programs-Do-the-Job/story.xhtml?story_id=022000PV25QQ

AV-Test Product Review and Certification Report – Q1 -2012, Top Products from AV-comparatives.org

In February, AV-Test (www.AV-Test.org ) tested twenty-three consumer and eight 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 XP. The top 9 products, total score, and the average of the three categories are contained in the table below. 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. All consumer products tested were certified. Eight business products were certified as well. Those can be seen on the av-test website along with the twenty three consumer products.

http://www.av-test.org/en/tests/test-reports/janfeb-2012/

The top internet security products in order were

BitDefender Internet Security 2012, Kaspersky Internet Security 2012, F-Secure Internet Security 2012, AVG Internet Security 2012, Symantec Norton Internet Security 2012, Norman Security Suite Pro 9.0, Panda Cloud Antivirus Free Edition 1.5.1, Panda Internet Security 2012, Webroot SecureAnywhere Complete 8.0, Avast Free AntiVirus 6.0, AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 2012, and G Data Internet Security 2012.

Some changes from Q4 of last year when the top 5 were from Kaspersky, BitDefender, F-Secure, G Data, and Symantec.

http://kensek.blogspot.com/2012/01/av-test-product-review-and.html

Kaspersky Internet Security 2012 was AV-comparatives.org Product of the Year, with BitDefender Internet Security 2012, F-Secure Internet Security, and Avira Internet Security 2012 being Top Rated.

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.

About AV-Comparatives.org http://www.av-comparatives.org

AV-Comparatives is an Austrian Non-Profit-Organization, which provides independent Anti-Virus software tests free to the public. Go to the AV-comparatives website for complete details about the organization, the many tests they perform, and to download copies of their reports.

Mary Landesman Departing Antivirus Site on about.com

After twelve years of being the voice of the Antivirus Software site on about.com, Mary Landesman is leaving and will be focusing more on her day job. Twelve years is a LONG time to be involved with one thing like this. She has become an icon on about.com. To read her parting note:

http://antivirus.about.com/b/2012/02/11/a-parting-note.htm?nl=1

Mary Landesman also has a final compilation of her best internet security suites 2012

Top Windows Antivirus - Best Internet Security Suite 2012

1. BitDefender Internet Security Suite 2012
2. Avira Internet Security 2012
3. BitDefender Sphere
4. Kaspersky Internet Security 2012 (the av-comparatives.org product of the year)
5. F-Secure Internet Security Suite 2012


A link to this article and the reviews:

http://antivirus.about.com/od/antivirussoftwarereviews/tp/aatpavwin.htm?nl=1

AV-Comparatives Anti-Phishing Test – August 2011

AV-Comparatives released their Anti-Phishing Test in August. This is a new test. Most of the products tested were Internet Security Suite 2011 solutions. Hopefully, this test will be duplicated now that many of the leading Internet Security Suite 2012 solutions have been released. http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/phishing/antiphishing2011.pdf . 19 internet security products were in the test.

Anti-Phishing Test 2011

Top 10 products in order, were, in terms of percentage:

1. 98.6 – Webroot
2. 97.3 – eScan
3. 96.7 – McAfee
4. 96.1 – Bullguard
5. 94.4 – BitDefender
6. 92.8 – Trend Micro
7. 92.1 – F-Secure
8. 89.4 – Symantec
9. 89.1 – Avira
10. 88.7 – K7

Look for this to be cross-tabbed against some other test results shortly. A major whoops to TrustPort who finished 18th at 76.9%. Also, TrustPort and Bullguard have consistently been top performers in Virus Bulletin RAP Average Quadrant http://kensek.blogspot.com/2011/08/august-2011-virus-bulletin-rap-averages.html . McAfee and K7, not so much.

AV-Comparatives is an Austrian Non-Profit-Organization, which provides independent Anti-Virus software tests free to the public.
www.av-comparatives.org

Go to their website for complete details about the organization, the many tests they perform, and to download copies of tests. This includes a September 2011 Corporate Comparative report that runs over 100 pages!

An Interesting Time in the Internet Security Suite and Antivirus World

So, Intel announces that they are going to be putting more security on their chip with software supplied by wholly owned subsidiary McAfee. This has to be interesting to the EU. At the same time, McAfee failed the most recent test by AV-test.org. Look for DeepSafe later this year http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110914-708402.html

Microsoft has started writing about Windows 8 and how they plan to add more security to the software. Can you say Microsoft Security Essentials? Microsoft Security Essentials has acquired nice market share on the www.opswat.com market share reports, but they have not been receiving stellar reviews. I asked ESET employees about this at a recent security show. They didn’t have anything in particular to say.

PC Magazine has been busy for the last couple of months since consumer internet security vendors have been releasing their paid and free antivirus 2012 and internet security 2012 solutions.

You look at downloads on www.download.com and the number of downloads from the top free vendors has dropped by “a lot”. There are a number of reasons for this, including switching where the downloads are coming from, to different servers, fewer malware attacks, less product churn, more upgrades... AVG Technologies and Avast are within 56k downloads on this site for the week ending September 17.

It’s hard to tell how the internet security suite vendors feel about reviews from www.download .com. Doing a search on the first 10 under “Free Antivirus” based on downloads last week: Two 5 star reviews, PC Tools and Threatfire, four 4.5 stars, AVG Antivirus Free Edition 2012, Avast Free Antivirus, Avira Antivir Personal, and Panda Cloud Antivirus Free Edition are up there. Some paid versions seem to have worked their way in. You’ll have to read the extensive reviews to determine how one 4.5 star product is better than another. It's worth the effort.

Of course, you can’t tell a lot from an internet security provider’s fan page. The fans have never met a like button they could not hit.

It will probably be another month or two before av-comparatives.org will release a test involving the 2012 products.

Avast, F-Secure, McAfee, Sophos, and Webroot (alphabetical order) cannot be happy about how they finished in www.av-test.org ‘s Whole Product Dynamic Tests for the month of August. Trend Micro, on the other hand, has to be quite pleased.

Some of the antivirus and internet security vendors are respectfully not participating in some third party tests. I would conjecture on this in more detail in that they disagree with the test methodology but my humble budget does not include paying for a food tester.

UK publication PC Pro (www.pcpro.co.uk) hasn’t done a lot with 2012 internet security and antivirus products yet. Perhaps in a few months.

Over the past year, reviewers have started to incorporate more data from www.av-test.org, www.av-comparatives.org and www.virusbtn.org . Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. This must be purely coincidental ;). Cross-tabs and combining results from multiple test organizations can be enlightening.

So what does the above mean, besides that there's a reason not to have had caffeinated coffee at Starbucks after 8pm? Time to spend some musings in other areas like virtual appliances, higher level strategies, why HP has hired Meg Whitman, the recent SecureWorld expo, and will Intel’s Dave Dewalt make an appearance at McAfee’s event in Vegas (you can probably take that one to the bank, baby!). Theatre reviews written recently won’t be ported to this blog.

October 12 - Editors Choice PC Magazine – The Wisdom of Crowds

Neil Rubenking from PC Magazine has named his Editors Choice awards for best Free Antivirus 2012, paid best Antivirus 2012 and best Internet Security Suites 2012 solutions.

• Free Antivirus – AVG Free Anti-Virus 2012, AVG Technologies
• Paid Antivirus – Norton Antivirus 2012, Symantec
• Paid Antivirus – Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus 2012
• Internet Security – Norton Internet Security 2012, Symantec

To see PC Magazine’s rankings of the Best Antivirus 2012 and Best Internet Security 2012 solutions, go to http://kensek.blogspot.com/2011/08/best-antivirus-software-2012-pc.html and http://kensek.blogspot.com/2011/08/best-internet-security-suites-2012-pc.html respectively . Additions will be made to these sites.

Go to http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2392456,00.asp for the Norton Internet Security review.

Go to http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2393678,00.asp for the Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus review.

An ouch for AVG Technologies is a false positive in the latest VB100 tests from Virus Bulletin. http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archive/summary . Nice streak of 21 VB100 awards in a row prior to the August test, though.

Wisdom of Crowds - James Surowiecki – You Have to Remember the Conditions

“The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations” is a great book written by James Surowiecki. In the book, he argues that “under the right circumstances, groups are remarkably intelligent, and are often smarter than the smartest people in them."

This may work for crowds designing internet search engines, guessing the weight of a wild boar, or guessing the number of jelly beans in a jar. It may not work for selecting the best antivirus or internet security solution. There are four conditions from Surowiecki not mentioned by people for this to work. The “wise” crowds need:

(1) diversity of opinion
(2) independence of members from one another
(3) decentralization
(4) a good method for aggregating opinions

Fan pages on internet security solution providers don’t represent a diversity opinion in selecting a “best internet security solution” or "best antivirus solution". Gazillions of the fans have never met a like button they wouldn’t push. They’ve self selected onto a fan page. You could argue that they are decentralized. However, they are receiving constant reinforcement from their fellow Facebook friends on the wisdom of their decisions. Avoiding buyer’s remorse is another topic. Internet surveys on voting for the best solution are a popularity contest with people able to “dial in” multiple times.

In the end, should one need surgery, want advice on an automobile, or want advice on the best internet security, it may be best to rely on the wisdom of a relative few qualified pundits who are given free reign to express their opinions. Web sites that list “Top 10 Somethings” may not be the most objective if participation requires pay to play.

Another great book – “How We Decide” by Jonah Lehrer.

McAfee Total Protection 5.0 Beta –McAfee Beta

McAfee has McAfee Protection 5.0 still in beta. You can learn more about the product and register to download at http://beta.mcafee.com/betamcafee

What's New With McAfee Total Protection?

• Improved Threat Detection:
• CleanBoot Tool:
• McAfee Anti Theft
• Improved Performance:
• MTP installation time has been reduced
• Improved On Demand Scan (ODS) performance.
• Home Network offer a larger list of Devices to identify on its drop-down list. Devices such as; Network Switches, PDA's, Smart Phones are now available to choose from.
• Parental Controls accumulate statistics in a Security Report
• Parental Controls now offers Improved Time Restriction capabilities
• Online Demand Scans now prompt the user to scan external drives
• Quickclean/Shredder now includes additional options when cleaning up files
• Improved key-logger protection

With respect to last year's McAfee Total Protection

McAfee didn't participate in AV-Comparative.org's May Retrospective test.

They did receive a VB100 award in the Virus Bulletin August Test http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archive/summary

Their solution came in next to last in av-comparative.org's "Whole Product Real World Dynamic Test" May-June http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/dyn/wpdt2011_1_en.pdf

They failed certification on av-test.org's q2 test http://www.av-test.org/en/tests/test-reports/quarter-22011/

Not a McStellar performance.

Internet Security Suites 2012 and the Super Suites - Everything but the Kitchen Sync

First, there was Antivirus. Followed by Antivirus Plus. Followed by Internet Security Suites. Then the Super Suites, which are faster, protect you from things you never know you had to be protected from, improved your “online experience” and would get you great seats for the World Cup and World Series. Well, maybe not the latter.

For example, the Super suite for BitDefender - Total Security, adds File Shredder, File Encryption, Tune-Up, and a Safe Backup versus the internet security suite - http://www.bitdefender.com/solutions/antivirus-comparison.html

For Kaspersky - Pure Total Security – adding management, password management, encrypted data vaults, password manager, and more versus the internet security suite! http://usa.kaspersky.com/products-services/home-computer-security/pure

For Panda -Panda Global Protection – adding tune-up, file shredding, file encryption versus the internet security suite - http://www.pandasecurity.com/usa/homeusers/solutions/

The links above lead to the respective product comparison grids and have 2012 products out.

Not to be outdone, Norton has two Super suites. Norton 360™ and Norton 360 Premier Edition.

Other Super Suites

Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security, McAfee Total Protection, Zone Alarm Extreme Security, G Data Total Security (2012 out) http://www.gdata-software.com/home-security/ , TrustPort Total Protection (2012 out) http://www.trustport.com/en/products/trustport-total-protection#comparison This list isn’t comprehensive.

So, visit the grids, choose from the smorgasbord of functionality you are looking for. The permutations are many! Parental Guidance is another feature frequently thrown in, as is Game Mode. Or a small handful of features that are a subset of another product the company sells.

As of August 24, companies that had their Internet Security 2012 Suites released (and most likely, their Super suites are BitDefender, Zone Alarm, Kaspersky, G Data, Panda, TrustPort, and Outpost.

http://kensek.blogspot.com/2011/08/best-internet-security-suites-2012-pc.html

Best Internet Security Suites 2012 - Best 2012 Security Suites - PC Magazine

September 11 - This blog is comprehensive with respect to 2012 versions.  2013 versions have "started" to come out and be reveiwed. After reading this blog, you may want to click on the following link for to see the 2013 versions.

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

Internet Security vendors are now starting to release their Internet Security Suite 2012 solutions. Most of the solutions out there are still Internet Security 2011. Below are the rankings of a number of internet security suites that have been reviewed by PC Magazine. The stars are out of 5. The number in ( ) is the score received in 2011.


Best Internet Security Suites 2012 - Best 2012 Security Suites

4.5 - Webroot SecureAnywhere Complete
4.5 - Norton Internet Security 2012
4.0 – BitDefender Internet Security Suite 2012 (3.5)
4.0 – Zone Alarm Extreme Security 2012
3.5 - Trend Micro Titanium Security 2012
3.5 – Kaspersky Internet Security Suite 2012 (4.0)
3.0 – G Data Internet Security 2012 (3.0)
3.0 - AVG Internet Security 2012 (2.5)
2.5 – Panda Global Protection 2012
2.5 – TrustPort Internet Security Suite 2012 (2.5)
2.5 - ESET Smart Security 5
2.5 - Bullgaurd Internet Secrity 12
2.0 – Outpost Security Suite Pro 7.5(2.5)

For the PC Magazine Reviews

To see the reviews by PC Magazine's Neil Rubenking go to http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2373529,00.asp

PC Magazine reviews each of the products in the table in detail. People looking for a solution should look at these individual reviews. They contain detailed (and extremely knowledgeable) qualitative data about the products as well as results of malware tests that were done by PC Magazine. Most internet security firms seem to have a basic antivirus package, an internet security suite, and then one or more ultra internet security suites. The range of additional features varies. It’s like, “But wait, there’s more.” Everything but a ginzu knife. The variety of features will be the subject of another blog.

PC Magazine and AV-Comparatives.org Combined

The table below combines several results from AV-comparatives.org as well as PC Magazine. The second column is the ranking for detection rate from the AV-Comparatives On Demand Detection of Malicious Software report – September 2011

http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/ondret/avc_od_aug2011.pdf. The third column is the same but for the April report. The fourth column is for AV-Comparatives Whole Product Real World Dynamic Test in August. The last column is the score for PC Magazine’s Internet Security 2012 reviews.

What Does the Table below Mean?

With respect to on Demand Detection, with the exception of McAfee; there was a consistency of performance among the top five vendors. There seems to be little relationship between the Whole Product Real World Dynamic test and the On Demand Detection tests. PC Magazine’s ratings don’t correlate with any of the three tests. However, PC Magazine’s scores are for much more than detection of malware. They are for a total product review.

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To see a ranking of the Best Internet Security Suites 2011, go to http://kensek.blogspot.com/2011/04/best-internet-security-suites-2011-pc.html

To see an evolving compilation of Best Antivirus 2012 reviews, go to http://kensek.blogspot.com/2011/08/best-antivirus-software-2012-pc.html


Other Sites to Look at For Product Tests

• www.av-test.org
• www.av-comparatives.org
• www.virusbtn.org

Pay attention to the exact product tested and the version number. This is a particularly dynamic document and will be updated as other internet security suites are released, as the test groups above perform more tests, and as other publications do reviews.

Get ready for the press releases.

AV-Comparatives is an Austrian Non-Profit-Organization, which provides independent Anti-Virus software tests free to the public. www.av-comparatives.org Go to their website for complete details about the organization and the many tests they perform.

Oct. Update - Bullguard Internet Security 12 – Beta

Bullguard has now been released. To see where it ranks among the other Internet Security suites in PC Magazine:

http://kensek.blogspot.com/2011/08/best-antivirus-software-2012-pc.html

To go to the PC Magazine review:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2394166,00.asp#

Bullguard currently has Bullguard Internet Security 12 in beta. Features being promoted within Bullguard Internet Security Suite 12 (they’re skipping 11) during beta testing include:

• Parental Control
• PC Tune up
• Improved Behavioral Detection
• Improved Firewall
• Improved Spamfilter
• Improved General Performance
• New and improved UI

You can obtain more information and register as a beta customer at http://www.bullguard.com/beta/Signup.aspx?c=IS12

How Has Bullguard Internet Security 10 Performed?

• Bullguard is 9 and 2 in the last 11 Virus Bulletin tests they’ve entered since 2007 http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archive/vendor?id=48
• Bullguard Internet Security Suite 10 received certification Q2 2011 certification on Windows XP from AV-test.org http://www.av-test.org/certifications
• Bullguard Internet Security Suite 10 received 2.5 stars (ouch) in an October review by PC Magazine’s Neil Rubenking http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2372100,00.asp Two other products received this score
• They were one of the top performers in the Virus Bulletin VB RAP tests, December 2010 through June 2011with the top score in proactive detection http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/rap-index.xml
• Bullguard was not part of av-comparative.org’s testing

Some Other Products Also in Beta

• Kaspersky currently has Kaspersky Internet Security 2012 in beta at http://support.kaspersky.com/kis2011/all?more=1&qid=208284251
• Webroot has Webroot Cloud Antivirus in beta at http://www.webroot.com/customerSupport/betaRegistration.php
• F-Secure currently has F-Secure Internet Security 2012 in beta at http://www.f-secure.com/en_EMEA-Labs/beta-programs/home-users-beta/IS2012beta/
• Trend Micro Maximum Security 2012 and others at https://www.trendbeta.com/pages/main
• Norton Internet Security 2012 and Anti-Virus 2012 beta http://us.norton.com/beta/index.jsp
• BitDefender Total Security 2012 http://beta2012.bitdefender.com

Panda Global Protection 2012

In brief, PC Magazine’s Neil Rubenking was disappointed with Panda Global Protection 2012. It received 2.5 stars out of 5. According to Rubenking: (a) in malware removal, malware blocking, antiphishing, and antispam tests it scored lower than the 2011 edition. Its backup and cleanup modules don't come close to the top competition. (b) a number of its nominal components are actually available for free without purchase of the suite. (c) the 2012 suite impacts system performance more than its predecessor. For the comprehensive review: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2386220,00.asp

Sophos Endpoint Security and Control 10 – Sophos Beta

Sophos currently has their Sophos Endpoint Security and Control 10 offering in beta. Improvements in the product they’re promoting include:

Sophos Endpoint Security Endpoint and Control

• New technologies that will improve scanning performance and web-based malware detection rates. Provide the ability to filter inappropriate websites whether your users are on or off your network
• Boost performance, which results in faster boot-up scanning and improved malware detection accuracy
• Enhance web-based malware protection with browser independent scanning
• Identify computers missing patches for vulnerabilities being exploited by the latest threats

How Has Sophos Been Performing in Tests

They are 9/10 in the last Virus Bulletin VB100 Awards tests they have been participating g in http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archive/vendor?id=1

Scored just below 90% in Reactive Detection and about 80% for Proactive Detection in Virus Bulletin’s December 2010 – June 2011 RAP Test http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/rap-index.xml

Was certified in Q1 2011 on Windows 7 by AV-test.org http://www.av-test.org/certifications

Received an Advanced Rating (2 stars) in AV-comparatives.org On-demand Detection of Malicious Software in February http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/ondret/avc_od_feb2011.pdf . This was out of 3 stars. They were not at the top among the two star recipients.

For more information or to download the beta, go to http://www.sophos.com/en-us/products/beta.aspx

Sophos is a B2B focused company, though they do offer a free download for Mac products. They’ve invested internally in “the cloud” offering solutions for live antivirus, URL filtering, and spam filtering technologies.

Early in July, Sophos completed their acquisition of Astaro, which has allowed them to broaden their internet security portfolio and buy some market share. http://www.sophos.com/en-us/press-office/press-releases/2011/07/sophos-broadens-security-portfolio-with-completion-of-astaro-acquisition.aspx

Sophos had sold a majority stake of the company to Apax Partners for $830 million last year http://kensek.blogspot.com/2010/12/2010-year-of-security-acquisitions.html Funds like this can help finance a lot of purchases. If you’re not going IPO (initial public offering), this is another way to get cash.

The usual suspects, McAfee, Panda, Avast, Avira, AVG Technologies, G Data, among others, will be announcing their betas over the coming months

Also in Beta (Consumer Products)

• Webroot has Webroot Cloud Antivirus in beta at http://www.webroot.com/customerSupport/betaRegistration.php
• F-Secure currently has F-Secure Internet Security 2012 in beta at http://www.f-secure.com/en_EMEA-Labs/beta-programs/home-users-beta/IS2012beta/
• Trend Micro Maximum Security 2012 and others at https://www.trendbeta.com/pages/main
• Norton Internet Security 2012 and Anti-Virus 2012 beta http://us.norton.com/beta/index.jsp
• BitDefender Total Security 2012 http://beta2012.bitdefender.com