OPSWAT Market Share Analysis of Antivirus, Public File Sharing and Threat Detection - January 2014

 

San Francisco based software company OPSWAT has released their January 2014 Market Share Analysis of Antivirus, Public File Sharing and Threat Detection.

The top 5 vendors on the OPSWAT report were (Vendor market share) 

1. 23.0% - Microsoft
2. 15.9% - Avast
3. 8.9% - AVG
4. 8.1% - ESET
5. 8.0% - Symantec

One interesting product that differs from the others are the offerings from Malwarebytes.  OPSWAT found that Among Malwarebytes users (4.2% share), more than 93% have another product installed, compared to 24% of users of other products.  This indicates that Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Pro are largely used as supplemental products to add additional security to a protected device.  All devices in this data set have at least one antivirus product installed.

 

Using their GEAR technology, OPSWAT looked at detected threats on the endpoint that had AV installed and found that 4.7% had over 10 perceived threats. “The new section in this report that focuses on perceived threats detected by the installed antivirus software provides interesting new data about how actively antivirus products are protecting users, commented OPSWAT employee Alec Stokes. "We’re excited to dive more into this analysis in future reports.”

Other statistics contained within the report include (and more):

 

• Public file sharing files installed
• Hard drive usage
• Operating systems share

 

OPSWAT’s many reports are available at http://www.opswat.com/about/media/reports

OPSWAT has a number of “paid products” as well as a free app remover utility.

About OPSWAT

OPSWAT is a San Francisco based software company that provides solutions to secure and manage IT infrastructure.  Founded in 2002, OPSWAT delivers solutions that provide manageability of endpoints and networks, and that help organizations protect against zero day attacks by using multiple antivirus engines scanning and file filtering.  OPSWAT’s intuitive applications and comprehensive development kits are deployed by SMB, enterprise, and OEM customers to more than ­million endpoints worldwide.  www.opswat.com

 

OPSWAT Market Share Report - Antivirus Market Analysis: December 2012

OPSWAT Inc. has released their December 2012 market share report, “Antivirus Market Analysis: December 2012”.  The data OPSWAT used for this market share report was collected between November 16, 2011 and November 15, 2012.  It's worthwhile to check out the detailed report.  You can also learn more about OPSWAT, their reports, products and some free tools they have available.  (To be discussed on another blog).  One aspect of this market share report is that it doesn’t go into the market shares these vendors have on tablets (and smart phones).  This will become increasingly more relevant in 2013.   

A Global Analysis

Avast has to be happy.  They’re the global market share leader, though Microsoft is catching up.  They maintain nice leads over the other well-known freemium antivirus vendors, Avira and AVG Technologies.  AVG Technologies may not care as much since their    revenue stream  from Google and Yahoo will become increasingly more important (a separate discussion).  In some respects, the below isn’t great for Kaspersky since one of their corporate objectives is to surpass Trend Micro in total revenues. 

OPSWAT Market Share Report Top Five  

The Top Five in antivirus vendor market share were Avast (17.5%), Microsoft (16.8%), ESET (10.8%), Symantec (10.5%), and Avira (10.4%).     

Congratulations to the Top Five!  Largest market share loss, AVG Technologies at 1.3%.  AVG has been getting a lot of downloads of their free  (and paid) products running on Android, however.   This product came from their acquisition of DroidSecurity.  DroidSecurity (was first and the market leader)  had over 2.5 million downloads of their products prior to the 2010 acquisition. Avira, Avast, and Norton also offer free Android solutions.

http://kensek.blogspot.com/2012/12/avg-updates-its-antivirus-for-android.html

 

You can click on the above to enlarge it.

In the September report, the order of the Top Five vendors:  Avast, Microsoft, Avira, and AVG Technologies.

Avast had cancelled an IPO in late July.  You have to wonder when that will take place.  http://kensek.blogspot.com/2012/07/avast-to-have-their-initial-public.html

A North America Centric View

Microsoft has a pretty incredible 32.0% share, gaining 10%.  The others in the Top Five in order, Symantec, Avast, AVG Technologies, and ESET.  Largest loss, AVG Technologies at 1.7%.  Symantec and Avast achieved small gains in share of 0.6% and 0.8%, respectively.  Microsoft has quickly become the 800-pound gorilla in Antivirus and Free Antivirus marketshare.

You can click on the above to enlarge it.

But How Well Do These Products Perform in third Party Testing?

That’s always an important question.  In AV-Comparatives September Anti-Virus Comparative “File Detection Test of Malicious Software”, the top five products overall were from,  in order Avira, Trend Micro, F-Secure, Kaspersky, and Bitdefender.  ESET was 15^th, Microsoft was 17^th .Symantec hasn’t been part of 2012 testing (they wanted to pick and choose tests to participate in. )

 http://kensek.blogspot.com/2012/10/av-comparatives-file-detection-test-of.html

All of the December top five with the exception of Microsoft (didn’t participate) received October VB100 Awards.  http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archive/summary
 

What about Correlation with 3rd Party Real World Dynamic Testing?

The short answer, there’s no correlation.  From the  December AV-Comparatives “Whole Product Dynamic ‘Real World’ Protection Test",  Avira (8^th) Avast (9^th) and ESET (11^th), all received two stars, while BitDefender, G Data, Qihoo, Kaspersky and BullGuard all received three stars.

An issue for all these products is product churn.  Free competitive upgrades are often available.  With free products, switching costs to another free product is zero.  On www.download.com at CNET, Avast had 1.39 million downloads for the week  ending December 9, while AVG had 0.97 million downloads.  Annualizing these come to about 52 million downloads each. Major churn "has" to be occurring, or a product is downloaded to fix a problem an already installed product missed, and then removed.   

About OPSWAT www.opswat.com   

Founded in 2002, OPSWAT is the industry leader in software management SDKs, interoperability certification, and multiple-engine scanning solutions.

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

About AV-Comparatives.org   

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

 

September 2012 OPSWAT Report on Worldwide Security Industry Market Share Analysis

OPSWAT Inc. has released their September 2012 report, “Security Industry Market Share Analysis”.  The data OPSWAT used was collected between August 16, 2011 and August 15, 2012.  It's worthwhile to check out the detailed report.  You can also learn more about OPSWAT, their reports, products and some free tools they have available.

There were some  changes in the order of the top five in the September Market Share Analysis.  Avira regained a position in the top five while AVG Technologies dropped out.  Globally, over the last six months, AVG Technologies had the largest loss in market share with about 1.4% (note, a company can gain in seats and still lose market share), and Avira the largest gain, with just fewer than 2%.  A couple of nice graphics illustrate market share and gain/loss for both the Global and North Americamarkets.  The detailed report has a listing of the top 10.  These top 10 have 89% of the market, according to OPSWAT.

Antivirus Worldwide Vendor Market Share September – OPSWAT

1. 17.5% - Avast
2. 13.9% - Microsoft
3. 12.1% - Avira
4. 10.6% - Eset
5. 10.2% - AVG Technologies

Antivirus Worldwide Vendor Market Share June 2012 - OPSWAT

1. 17.4% - Avast
2. 13.2% - Microsoft
3. 11.1% - Eset
4. 10.3% - Symantec
5. 10.1% - AVG Technologies

AV Products Worldwide Market Share

Avast and Microsoft were first and second with respect to global market share with 13.8% and 13.6%, respectively.  Avira was 3rd with 10%.  As with the other lists, OPWSWAT lists the top ten.  The top ten had 81% of the market.

North America Vendor Share

Microsoft led   the other vendors    with respect to market share at 26.7%.  Symantec was second at 15.7% and Avast 3rd at 11.1%.  The top 10 vendors have 89.5% of the market in North America.

There has to be a story behind Avast cancelling their initial public offering since they continue to be in a leading position among the three A’s, AVG Technologies, Avast, and Avira,  when it comes to market share.  Note that this is defined as installed base, not revenue. 

The cone of shame for that timeframe from the bottom up was from Ahnlab, Webroot, and PC Tools.

The major players are in the process of running out their Antivirus 2013 and Internet Security 2013 suites.  Depending on how these are received, the order may be changing over time.

Antivirus Usage, Real Time Protection, System Scan and Updates

Opswat also provides some interesting data on the major vendors from the perspective of – percentage of those with Real Time Protection (RTP) enabled (Microsoft Wins), Average Time since Last Definition Update (Microsoft) and Average Time since Last Full System Scan (Microsoft).  Where this data is somewhat funky is that users can define when they want a full system scan, for example. 

But Wait, There’s More!  Operating Systems Share

Windows 7 has 51.9% of the worldwide market, and 46.6% of the North America Market.  See the report.  Windows XP is just under 39% in both cases. 

But Wait, There’s More!  OPSWAT Products

Read the report for blurbs on the OESIS Framwork, AppRemover, Multi-Scanning solutions, the GEARS cloud-based endpoint management and monitoring solution, and the Secure Virtual Desktop (SVD).

AV¬-Comparative Testing 

The market   share leaders aren’t always the top rated ones in testing.  From the AV-Comparative March through June 2012 report, “Whole Product Dynamic ‘Real World’ Protection Test, for example,  the top five products were from    BitDefender, G Data, Kaspersky Qihoo, and F-Secure.  The June through August online graphic has the order as Kaspersky, QiHoo, BitDefender, Avira, and F-Secure. 

About OPSWAT  www.opswat.com  

Founded in 2002, OPSWAT is the industry leader in software management SDKs, interoperability certification, and multiple-engine scanning solutions. 

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

AV-Comparatives.org

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

June 2012 OPSWAT Report on Worldwide Security Industry Market Share Analysis

OPSWAT Inc. has released  their June 2012 report,  “Security Industry Market Share Analysis”.  The data OPSWAT used was collected between May 16, 2011 and May 15, 2012.  It's worthwhile to check out the detailed report.  You can also learn a bit more about OPSWAT, their reports, products  and some free  tools they have available

There were some major changes in  the order of the top five over the last several months.  Avira fell out of the top five.  Microsoft and ESET moved up.  Symantec entered the top five and AVG Technologies dropped from third to fifth.  Globally, over the last six months, AVG Technologies had the largest loss in market share with about 2%, and ESET the largest gain, with about 2%.  A couple of nice graphics illustrate market share and gain/loss for both global and North America.  The detailed report has a listing of the top 10.  These top 10 have 89% of the market, according to OPSWAT.

Avast must be pleased where they are in the rankings as they prepare   for their IPO (Initial Public Offering).  They claim an installed base of over 189 million end points. Market share is important. That's where the revenue comes from. A  party may be in order. Live music by the Czech band Monkey Business, perhaps.

Antivirus Worldwide Vendor Market Share June 2012 - OPSWAT

1. 17.4% - Avast
2. 13.2% - Microsoft
3. 11.1% - Eset
4. 10.3% - Symantec
5. 10.1% - AVG Technologies

Worldwide Security Industry Market Share Leaders March 2012

1. 16.3% - Avast
2. 11.7% - Avira
3. 11.0% - AVG Technologies
4. 10.1% - Microsoft
5. 10.1% - Eset

AV Products Worldwide Market Share

Microsoft Security Essentials has a dominant percent of the market in this with 21.3%, followed by Avast Free Antivirus and AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition with 8.2%, and 7.7%, respectively.  Again, the OPSWAT report lists the top ten.

You’ll also want to check out the Security Industry Market Share Analysis report for Worldwide and North America Operating System market share.

As always, the market share leaders aren’t always the top rated ones in testing.  From the AV-Comparatives March 2012 report,  “On-demand Detection of Malicious Software”,    G Data and Avira were first and second correspondingly, with 3 stars.  Symantec didn’t participate.  Twenty vendors are in this report.  For the vendors listed above, where they ranked on the award levels table and the number of stars awarded:

10. Avast - 3 stars
11. ESET – 3 stars
16. AVG Technologies - 1 star
17. Microsoft – 1star (had the fewest false positives)

Go to AV-Comparatives'  Report "On Demand Detection of Malicious Software" (On demand comparative) - March 2012 for details.

http://www.av-comparatives.org/en/comparativesreviews/retrospective-test 


Also, BitDefender scored higher than all the other vendors tested in a March/April report published by AV-Test.org.  BitDefender scored with 17 out of 18 possible points.  With respect to OPSWAT market share, though, they are in “Other”.

The OPSWAT report also contains information about Windows Operating System Deployments, and Backup (client and vendor) market share.  A nice, free (!) report.  Well worth checking out.  The AV-comparatives report mentioned above is free, as well.
 
About OPSWAT  www.opswat.com

Founded in 2002, OPSWAT is the industry leader in soft¬ware management SDKs, interoperability certification, and multiple-engine scanning solutions. 

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

AV-Comparatives.org

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


http://kensek.blogspot.com/2012/03/march-2012-opswat-report-on-worldwide.html

HP Ships Virus-Infected Flash Card with ProCurve Switch - PC Market Share Data

Hewlett Packard shipped ProCurve switches with a virus-infected compact flash card that could compromise a personal computer, according to articles published last week. Hewlett-Packard released a statement that said it had "corrected potential security vulnerability."

This is kind of a “whoops” for a company the size of Hewlett-Packard that has a major investment in security. Among their products are network security appliances (the TippingPoint acquisition falls under this group), and firewalls (in the Niche portion of Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Network Firewalls)> they also offer Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS) and Threat Management Systems (TMS) (Tipping Point solutions, as well). This isn’t a Meg Whitman problem. It probably provided a Maalox moment for a few more senior people in the security division.

http://www.crn.com/news/security/232900249/hp-ships-virus-infected-flash-card-with-procurve-switch.htm?cid=nl_crnup

On a more positive note, Gartner has reported that Hewlett Packard was the top PC vendor, with 15.31 million units shipped during Q1 2012. Shipments improved 3.5% year over year to 17.2%. Lenovo was second with a 13.1% market share, up 28.0% year over year. This could be a sign that HP has made the right decision by choosing not to shed the personal computer division.

Avira Acquires Social Monitoring Startup SocialShield

Avira announced today that they’ve acquired social monitoring startup based SocialShield. SocialShield is a web-based service. It allows parents to monitor child's use of Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Google+, and FormSpringl. The product’s web-based console aggregates data from these sites and flags friends, posts, and photos, that parents may find an issue with. The company is based in California. Avira will incorporate SocialShield’s social network monitoring technology into the company’s free security product portfolio.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20120329005410/en/Avira-Acquires-SocialShield

SocialShield received 4.5 stars from PC Magazine’s Neill Rubenking and was an Editors’ Choice in 2011. You can read his review of SocialShield and similar products at

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2394460,00.asp

SocialShield received two special Certificates of Congressional Recognition in 2011 from Republican US Congressman John Campbell and Democrat US Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez. This was in recognition for their “Outstanding Work in Improving Internet Safety for Children.” SocialShield was participated in a “Bullying Prevention Summit” hosted by the White House last year to launch its StopBullying.gov initiative and have discussions on policies and programs to prevent bullying.

A number of malware and internet security companies are involved in various initiatives to assist with monitoring children’s internet usage and keep them protected and from being followed while on the internet. Monitoring software solutions include SocialGuard, MinorMonitor, and SocialWeb. Parental Control products can be found as both standalones and bundled within company's internet security suites.

According to the OPSWAT Inc. March 2012 report on “Security Industry Market Share Analysis”, Avira is number two at the endpoint in worldwide market share with 11.7%. Avast leads with 16.3%.

www.avira.com