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October 8 Addendum - PC Magazine Review of AVG Internet Security 2011 AVG IS 2011 PC Magazine Review http://tinyurl.com/366n5mg
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Blog amended Sept. 30
It looks as if AVG Technologies Initial Public Offering (IPO) “may” take place November 10 with the stock appearing on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The range of the initial market capitalization is unchanged from earlier articles in the press, 400 million to 800 million EUR. The November 10 IPO date appeared in the press in Europe in several publications during the latter half of the week of September 19. Nothing new about the stock appearing on the London Stock Exchange.
In the US, market activity in the security world has been high, as previously written. McAfee is being acquired by Intel. Hewlett Packard won a bidding war for 3PAR over Dell Computer. Hewlett Packard signed an agreement to acquire ArcSight, acquire ArcSight security and compliance management company. http://ir.arcsight.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=506759 There were also rumors about Trend Micro being approached for a takeover. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-09/trend-micro-shares-surge-in-tokyo-after-digitimes-takeover-approach-report.html. This activity could conceivably lead to a pop in the initial price when the stock goes public.
The end of September target launch date of the AVG 2011 set of internet security solutions is (obviously) well ahead of the company's IPO date. There will probably be a number of reviews by publications evaluating one or more of the products shortly after release. Test results by organizations such as www.virusbtn.com, www.icsalabs.com and www.av-comparatives.org will reflect the previous release of the products for awhile.
The translations below are from using “Google translate”.
Finance.cz
AVG is about to enter the Warsaw Stock Exchange
September 23, 2010
http://www.finance.cz/zpravy/finance/281364-avg-technologies-se-chysta-vstoupit-na-varsavskou-burzu-/
According to financial newspaper about a Czech producer of antivirus software, AVG their entry (IPO - a primary offering of shares) IPO would take place November 10, 2010. The value of the IPO would be between 400 mill and 800 million (EUR 2.5 billion to CZK 5 billion. Total Offer (IPO plus addition emissions (sic)) can be up to one billion PLN, ie about 6.3 billion CZK
Interia.pl
Czechs Rush Swiftly To Warsaw
September 25
http://biznes.interia.pl/gieldy/news/czesi-chyzo-pedza-na-warszawe,1536481
The Czech company AVG Technologies is incorporated in The Netherlands. Grisoft is a former founded in 1991 by John Gritzbacha and Tomas Hofer, author of the AVG antivirus program. The largest investor is a venture capital fund Polish Enterprise Investors.
AVG is planning to debut on November 10. It wants to collect one billion of the IPO zł.
Kurzy.cz
AVG Should Appear on the Warsaw Stock Exchange November 10th
September 22
http://zpravy.kurzy.cz/244684-avg-by-se-mela-na-varsavske-burze-objevit-10-listopadu/
Shares of Czech software company AVG would be on the Warsaw stock exchange were to occur the 10th November, write the Polish stock market Wednesday Parkiet Daily.
Warsaw Stock Exchange
The Warsaw Stock Exchange is the largest stock exchange in Eastern Europe. There are 384 companies on the exchange. 361 of them are domestic and 23 foreign. Roughly 1/3 of the market value of the WSE is based on the foreign companies’ value. The Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) operates based on the Act on Trading in Financial Instruments of July 29, 2005 under the supervision of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority http://www.gpw.pl/index.asp
September 30 Addendum
According to AVG CEO J.R. Smith in the September 29 edition of the Prague Post, there has been no decision to list shares of AVG Technologies on either the Warsaw or any other bourse.
"It's news to me," he said in response to reports by Reuters and the daily Hospodářské noviny that quoted unnamed sources. "The shareholders are always looking at options to get some liquidity. They weigh those decisions every day, but there has been no decision made by the shareholders or anyone else to list in Poland or Prague or anywhere else."
http://www.praguepost.com/business/5854-avg-boosts-product-ipo-vague.html
Public offering and high finance can have a sense of intrigue. Meanwhile, "Money Never Sleeps", the sequel to Michael Douglas's "Wall Street", opened last week in the United States and topped the box office. Gordon Gekko is back.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Internet Security 2011 – Rush To Release Part V
September 28 addendum - AVG 2011 should be available September 29.
October 8 Addendum - Link to PC Magazine AVG Internet Security 2011 Review AVG IS 2011 PC Magazine Review http://tinyurl.com/366n5mg
F-Secure has now joined the companies releasing their consumer Internet Security 2011 and Anti-virus 2011 solutions. The announcement for F-Secure Internet Security 2011 and F-Secure Anti-virus 2011 took place on September 15.
About F-Secure Internet Security 2011 and Anti-virus 2011
F-Secure promotes multi-layered protection with their F-Secure Internet Security 2011 product. They state that their Browsing Protection feature will warn you which sites are safe to enter. F-Secure utilizes multiple scanning engines for the antivirus protection.
F-Secure’s DeepGuard in the cloud protection is designed to provide instant protection again new threats. F-Secure DeepGuard 2.0 incorporates a feature called Network Lookups to enable instant protection against emerging threats. It detects when a Windows application is launched and F-Secure’s Network Look-up feature asks about the application. If “the cloud” replies that the application is good, it’s allowed.
Their products also relies on some local decision logic, so there is still protection, even when there is no working network connection.
PC Magazine’s Neil Rubenking gave F-Secure Internet Security an overall score of 3.0 out of 5. He liked the interface and the small footprint of the product. Overall, he felt that the security components were “good” and that the product had potential. He favored Kaspersky or Norton over F-Secure. However. Rudimentary found fault with the product's parental control and found that the test systems were sluggish at times.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2369358,00.asp
F-Secure Anti-virus 2011 scored a slightly higher at 3.5 out of 5.0 with Rubenking complimenting the product for its cloud based and reputation based detection. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2369143,00.asp
F-Secure Product Testing and Certification (2010 Releases)
F-Secure has received VB100 status for the last 4 recent tests it has submitted for. http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archive/results?display=summary . Its Internet Security 2010 product has been certified by ICSA Labs for both cleaning and detection - https://www.icsalabs.com/products?tid_1[]=4264&x=35&y=12&=Apply . ICSA Labs' web site - www.iscalabs.com
2011 Internet Security Solutions Released
The lines below contain feature checklists for a number of each of the company's products.
• BitDefender Total Security 2011 was released around August 16. For product details - http://www.bitdefender.com/solutions/total-security.
• Kaspersky - Kaspersky announced Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 on August 16 For product details -http://usa.kaspersky.com/products_services/compare/
• Panda Security – Panda Internet Security Suite 2011 was announced on July 27. For product details - http://www.pandasecurity.com/usa/homeusers/solutions/
• Webroot - Webroot Internet Security Complete 2011 was announced on July 26. For product details http://www.webroot.com/En_US/consumer-compare.html
• Symantec – Symantec introduced their Norton consumer security solutions in early September. For product details: http://www.symantec.com/norton/products/charts/comparison.jsp?pcid=mp
• Trend Micro - Trend Micro introduced their Titanium product line in early September. For product details: http:// Trend us.trendmicro.com/us/products/personal/titanium-maximum-security/ and click on “product comparison”
• F-Secure - F-Secure announced their internet security product line on September 15. For product details: http://www.f-secure.com/en_US/products/home-office/internet-security/ and then click on compare products.
2011 Internet Security Solutions That Haven’t Been Released
• AVG – Should be releasing the AVG 2011 product line around the end of September.
• McAfee – No official release date has been announced for the next release of McAfee Total Protection.
• Avast – No official release date has been announced.
• Avira – No official release data has been announced.
As an aside, AVAST Software gained its 130 millionth user at 7:52:52 (Central European Time) on September 7 according to a September 14 press release. http://www.avast.com/pr-avast-software-crosses-the-130-million-user-threshold
AVG Technologies’ Initial Public Offering (IPO)
No firm date from AVG Technologies as to when they will have their initial public offering. Originally slated for the London (UK) exchange, it may now take place on the Warsaw exchange and one other, in fact. This is according to a Reuters article dated September 15, “Czech AVG's IPO to be worth 400-800 mln EUR-sources” The Initial Public Offering may now take place in the first quarter of 2011. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSWSF00947520100915
A September 12 Financial Times article where “bankers have signaled they are aiming for an autumn listing.” “UK tech sector poised for deal flurry” http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/eed0f540-be9c-11df-a755-00144feab49a.html
The August 13 issue of the IFR European ECM Briefing had mentioned the IPO taking place in Q3/Q4. They had listed the estimated capitalization in the range of US $300m-400m. It appears as if Q3 will not happen. http://www.ifrbriefings.com/examples/euro_ecm.pdf
The flurry of acquisitions over the summer – Intel acquiring McAfee, and Hewlett Packard acquiring 3Par (at a substantial premium) and Arcsight, may have motivated AVG to slow down the offering.
See also: "AVG Technologies Prepares To Go Public" http://kensek.blogspot.com/2010/07/avg-technologies-prepares-to-go-public.html
October 8 Addendum - Link to PC Magazine AVG Internet Security 2011 Review AVG IS 2011 PC Magazine Review http://tinyurl.com/366n5mg
F-Secure has now joined the companies releasing their consumer Internet Security 2011 and Anti-virus 2011 solutions. The announcement for F-Secure Internet Security 2011 and F-Secure Anti-virus 2011 took place on September 15.
About F-Secure Internet Security 2011 and Anti-virus 2011
F-Secure promotes multi-layered protection with their F-Secure Internet Security 2011 product. They state that their Browsing Protection feature will warn you which sites are safe to enter. F-Secure utilizes multiple scanning engines for the antivirus protection.
F-Secure’s DeepGuard in the cloud protection is designed to provide instant protection again new threats. F-Secure DeepGuard 2.0 incorporates a feature called Network Lookups to enable instant protection against emerging threats. It detects when a Windows application is launched and F-Secure’s Network Look-up feature asks about the application. If “the cloud” replies that the application is good, it’s allowed.
Their products also relies on some local decision logic, so there is still protection, even when there is no working network connection.
PC Magazine’s Neil Rubenking gave F-Secure Internet Security an overall score of 3.0 out of 5. He liked the interface and the small footprint of the product. Overall, he felt that the security components were “good” and that the product had potential. He favored Kaspersky or Norton over F-Secure. However. Rudimentary found fault with the product's parental control and found that the test systems were sluggish at times.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2369358,00.asp
F-Secure Anti-virus 2011 scored a slightly higher at 3.5 out of 5.0 with Rubenking complimenting the product for its cloud based and reputation based detection. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2369143,00.asp
F-Secure Product Testing and Certification (2010 Releases)
F-Secure has received VB100 status for the last 4 recent tests it has submitted for. http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archive/results?display=summary . Its Internet Security 2010 product has been certified by ICSA Labs for both cleaning and detection - https://www.icsalabs.com/products?tid_1[]=4264&x=35&y=12&=Apply . ICSA Labs' web site - www.iscalabs.com
2011 Internet Security Solutions Released
The lines below contain feature checklists for a number of each of the company's products.
• BitDefender Total Security 2011 was released around August 16. For product details - http://www.bitdefender.com/solutions/total-security.
• Kaspersky - Kaspersky announced Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 on August 16 For product details -http://usa.kaspersky.com/products_services/compare/
• Panda Security – Panda Internet Security Suite 2011 was announced on July 27. For product details - http://www.pandasecurity.com/usa/homeusers/solutions/
• Webroot - Webroot Internet Security Complete 2011 was announced on July 26. For product details http://www.webroot.com/En_US/consumer-compare.html
• Symantec – Symantec introduced their Norton consumer security solutions in early September. For product details: http://www.symantec.com/norton/products/charts/comparison.jsp?pcid=mp
• Trend Micro - Trend Micro introduced their Titanium product line in early September. For product details: http:// Trend us.trendmicro.com/us/products/personal/titanium-maximum-security/ and click on “product comparison”
• F-Secure - F-Secure announced their internet security product line on September 15. For product details: http://www.f-secure.com/en_US/products/home-office/internet-security/ and then click on compare products.
2011 Internet Security Solutions That Haven’t Been Released
• AVG – Should be releasing the AVG 2011 product line around the end of September.
• McAfee – No official release date has been announced for the next release of McAfee Total Protection.
• Avast – No official release date has been announced.
• Avira – No official release data has been announced.
As an aside, AVAST Software gained its 130 millionth user at 7:52:52 (Central European Time) on September 7 according to a September 14 press release. http://www.avast.com/pr-avast-software-crosses-the-130-million-user-threshold
AVG Technologies’ Initial Public Offering (IPO)
No firm date from AVG Technologies as to when they will have their initial public offering. Originally slated for the London (UK) exchange, it may now take place on the Warsaw exchange and one other, in fact. This is according to a Reuters article dated September 15, “Czech AVG's IPO to be worth 400-800 mln EUR-sources” The Initial Public Offering may now take place in the first quarter of 2011. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSWSF00947520100915
A September 12 Financial Times article where “bankers have signaled they are aiming for an autumn listing.” “UK tech sector poised for deal flurry” http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/eed0f540-be9c-11df-a755-00144feab49a.html
The August 13 issue of the IFR European ECM Briefing had mentioned the IPO taking place in Q3/Q4. They had listed the estimated capitalization in the range of US $300m-400m. It appears as if Q3 will not happen. http://www.ifrbriefings.com/examples/euro_ecm.pdf
The flurry of acquisitions over the summer – Intel acquiring McAfee, and Hewlett Packard acquiring 3Par (at a substantial premium) and Arcsight, may have motivated AVG to slow down the offering.
See also: "AVG Technologies Prepares To Go Public" http://kensek.blogspot.com/2010/07/avg-technologies-prepares-to-go-public.html
Friday, September 10, 2010
Addendum to: Internet Security 2011 – Rush To Release Part IV
Two more internet security vendors have introduced their 2011 internet security solutions. Trend Micro is rebranding their consumer products with the introduction of their 2011 product line. The products are now Trend Micro Titanium AntiVirus, Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security and Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security. Symantec has also introduced their Norton 2011 product line: Norton Antivirus 2011, Norton Internet Security 2011, and their two Norton 360 version 4.0 products. AVG Technologies AVG 2011 product line? Not until the end of September, most likely.
Trend Micro Titanium
In an interview with ZDnet in 2008, Trend Micro’s Eva Chen said, “In the antivirus business, we have been lying to customers for 20 years. People thought that virus protection protected them, but we can never block all viruses…” “Trend Micro: Antivirus industry lied for 20 years “ http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/it-strategy/2008/06/30/trend-micro-antivirus-industry-lied-for-20-years-39440184/
With this release, Trend Micro is following through on their commitment to move security to the cloud.
From their web site: “ Trend Micro Titanium is powered by the Trend Micro™ Smart Protection Network™ infrastructure, our cloud security infrastructure that stops threats in cyberspace or "the cloud." Smart Protection Network monitors the Internet 24/7, worldwide. It gathers and analyzes threat data, blocking viruses and other malware BEFORE they can reach your PC. And because processing is done in the cloud, Titanium uses less of your PC’s memory and disk space, so it won’t slow you down.”
PC Magazine’s Neil Rubenking gave Trend Micro Titanium Antivirus 2011 a score of 2 out of 5 finding it, “lightweight, attractive, and unobtrusive” but a little lacking on doing its job. http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,2806,4796,00.asp
Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security 2011 scored a more impressive 3.5 out of 5. Rubenking called the online backup system “stupendous”. Maximum Security offers a number of additional features over Internet Security including Automatic warning against suspicious links in email and IM, extending protection to smart phones, and backup and sync. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2368601,00.asp
Trend Micro In Play? Calling Gordon Gekko
As an aside, an undisclosed company has supposedly put an offer in for Trend Micro “Trend Micro Shares Jump” http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6880U620100909 No companies were mentioned by name. A CRN slide presentation included the recommendation that Oracle acquire Trend Micro. “Hurd's Top Five Oracle Acquisition Target Hit-List” http://www.crn.com/slide-shows/channel-programs/227300309/hurds-top-five-oracle-acquisition-target-hit-list.htm?pgno=4
Norton Internet Security 2011, Norton Antivirus 2011
Symantec’s messaging for their 2011 product line - Fast protection that does more to stop viruses and spyware. Powerful, fast protection to email, shop and bank online without worry. Ultimate protection, performance and peace of mind against digital dangers.
Norton Internet Security 2011 and Norton 360 both received 4.5 out of 5 from Rubenking. Internet Security received Editor’s Choice. Rubenking cited its new interactive security panel and found the product to be an improvement over last year’s “already excellent” protection. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2368876,00.asp
Norton Antivirus 2011 also received an Editors’ Choice designation. The reviewer called Norton Antivirus 2011 a “top-notch antivirus with impressive bonuses” http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2368768,00.asp
2011 Internet Security Solutions Released
The below lines contain feature checklists for a number of each of the company's products.
• BitDefender Total Security 2011 was released around August 16. For product details - http://www.bitdefender.com/solutions/total-security.
• Kaspersky - Kaspersky announced Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 on August 16 For product details -http://usa.kaspersky.com/products_services/compare/
• Panda Security – Panda Internet Security Suite 2011 was announced on July 27. For product details - http://www.pandasecurity.com/usa/homeusers/solutions/
• Webroot - Webroot Internet Security Complete 2011 was announced on July 26. For product details http://www.webroot.com/En_US/consumer-compare.html
• Symantec – Symantec introduced their Norton consumer security solutions in early September. For product details: http://www.symantec.com/norton/products/charts/comparison.jsp?pcid=mp
• Trend Micro - Trend Micro introduced their Titanium product line in early September. For product details: http:// Trend us.trendmicro.com/us/products/personal/titanium-maximum-security/ and click on “product comparison”
2011 Internet Security Solutions That Haven’t Been Released
• AVG – Should be releasing the AVG 2011 product line around September 29. AVG Threat Labs should be coming out of beta at the same time.
• McAfee – No official release date has been announced for the next release of McAfee Total Protection.
• Avast – No official release date has been announced.
• Avira – No official release data has been announced.
According to a comment on an executive blog on the AVG Technologies web site, the next release of AVG’s product line should be out of beta and occur around the end of September. “We expect to launch the full consumer version of AVG’s Threat Labs in late September coinciding with our launch of AVG 2011.” This product line will be known as AVG 2011.
http://jrsmith.blog.avg.com/2010/09/avg-threat-labs-an-exciting-new-threat-informational-portal.html This release may occur before AVG Technologies completes their Initial Public Offering (IPO).
AVG Technologies’ Initial Public Offering (IPO)
AVG Technologies has not announced when they will have their initial public offering on the London (UK) exchange. It may now take place on the Warsaw exchange and one other, in fact. For more information on this, go to
"AVG Technologies Prepares To Go Public" http://kensek.blogspot.com/2010/07/avg-technologies-prepares-to-go-public.html
The August 13 issue of the IFR European ECM Briefing mentions the IPO taking place in Q3/Q4. They listed the estimated capitalization in the range of US $300m-400m. http://www.ifrbriefings.com/examples/euro_ecm.pdf
Look for a flurry of consumer internet security product announcements over the next several weeks.
AVAST at 130 Million Users?
AVAST Software gained its 130 millionth user at 7:52:52 (Central European Time) on September 7 according to a September 14 press release. http://www.avast.com/pr-avast-software-crosses-the-130-million-user-threshold
Avast is now claiming that they are the world’s most popular antivirus program in three categories: the size of its registered user base, its growth in the number of users during 2010, and in the high level of referrals from users.
AVG is claiming more 110 million active users on their website http://www.avg.com/us-en/avg-company-profile. They have mentioned 130 million on their site, as well, and in the press. The two companies may be defining “active” differently.
AVAST also seems to have “Pirate English” as an option for individuals licensing their software.
Trend Micro Titanium
In an interview with ZDnet in 2008, Trend Micro’s Eva Chen said, “In the antivirus business, we have been lying to customers for 20 years. People thought that virus protection protected them, but we can never block all viruses…” “Trend Micro: Antivirus industry lied for 20 years “ http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/it-strategy/2008/06/30/trend-micro-antivirus-industry-lied-for-20-years-39440184/
With this release, Trend Micro is following through on their commitment to move security to the cloud.
From their web site: “ Trend Micro Titanium is powered by the Trend Micro™ Smart Protection Network™ infrastructure, our cloud security infrastructure that stops threats in cyberspace or "the cloud." Smart Protection Network monitors the Internet 24/7, worldwide. It gathers and analyzes threat data, blocking viruses and other malware BEFORE they can reach your PC. And because processing is done in the cloud, Titanium uses less of your PC’s memory and disk space, so it won’t slow you down.”
PC Magazine’s Neil Rubenking gave Trend Micro Titanium Antivirus 2011 a score of 2 out of 5 finding it, “lightweight, attractive, and unobtrusive” but a little lacking on doing its job. http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,2806,4796,00.asp
Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security 2011 scored a more impressive 3.5 out of 5. Rubenking called the online backup system “stupendous”. Maximum Security offers a number of additional features over Internet Security including Automatic warning against suspicious links in email and IM, extending protection to smart phones, and backup and sync. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2368601,00.asp
Trend Micro In Play? Calling Gordon Gekko
As an aside, an undisclosed company has supposedly put an offer in for Trend Micro “Trend Micro Shares Jump” http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6880U620100909 No companies were mentioned by name. A CRN slide presentation included the recommendation that Oracle acquire Trend Micro. “Hurd's Top Five Oracle Acquisition Target Hit-List” http://www.crn.com/slide-shows/channel-programs/227300309/hurds-top-five-oracle-acquisition-target-hit-list.htm?pgno=4
Norton Internet Security 2011, Norton Antivirus 2011
Symantec’s messaging for their 2011 product line - Fast protection that does more to stop viruses and spyware. Powerful, fast protection to email, shop and bank online without worry. Ultimate protection, performance and peace of mind against digital dangers.
Norton Internet Security 2011 and Norton 360 both received 4.5 out of 5 from Rubenking. Internet Security received Editor’s Choice. Rubenking cited its new interactive security panel and found the product to be an improvement over last year’s “already excellent” protection. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2368876,00.asp
Norton Antivirus 2011 also received an Editors’ Choice designation. The reviewer called Norton Antivirus 2011 a “top-notch antivirus with impressive bonuses” http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2368768,00.asp
2011 Internet Security Solutions Released
The below lines contain feature checklists for a number of each of the company's products.
• BitDefender Total Security 2011 was released around August 16. For product details - http://www.bitdefender.com/solutions/total-security.
• Kaspersky - Kaspersky announced Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 on August 16 For product details -http://usa.kaspersky.com/products_services/compare/
• Panda Security – Panda Internet Security Suite 2011 was announced on July 27. For product details - http://www.pandasecurity.com/usa/homeusers/solutions/
• Webroot - Webroot Internet Security Complete 2011 was announced on July 26. For product details http://www.webroot.com/En_US/consumer-compare.html
• Symantec – Symantec introduced their Norton consumer security solutions in early September. For product details: http://www.symantec.com/norton/products/charts/comparison.jsp?pcid=mp
• Trend Micro - Trend Micro introduced their Titanium product line in early September. For product details: http:// Trend us.trendmicro.com/us/products/personal/titanium-maximum-security/ and click on “product comparison”
2011 Internet Security Solutions That Haven’t Been Released
• AVG – Should be releasing the AVG 2011 product line around September 29. AVG Threat Labs should be coming out of beta at the same time.
• McAfee – No official release date has been announced for the next release of McAfee Total Protection.
• Avast – No official release date has been announced.
• Avira – No official release data has been announced.
According to a comment on an executive blog on the AVG Technologies web site, the next release of AVG’s product line should be out of beta and occur around the end of September. “We expect to launch the full consumer version of AVG’s Threat Labs in late September coinciding with our launch of AVG 2011.” This product line will be known as AVG 2011.
http://jrsmith.blog.avg.com/2010/09/avg-threat-labs-an-exciting-new-threat-informational-portal.html This release may occur before AVG Technologies completes their Initial Public Offering (IPO).
AVG Technologies’ Initial Public Offering (IPO)
AVG Technologies has not announced when they will have their initial public offering on the London (UK) exchange. It may now take place on the Warsaw exchange and one other, in fact. For more information on this, go to
"AVG Technologies Prepares To Go Public" http://kensek.blogspot.com/2010/07/avg-technologies-prepares-to-go-public.html
The August 13 issue of the IFR European ECM Briefing mentions the IPO taking place in Q3/Q4. They listed the estimated capitalization in the range of US $300m-400m. http://www.ifrbriefings.com/examples/euro_ecm.pdf
Look for a flurry of consumer internet security product announcements over the next several weeks.
AVAST at 130 Million Users?
AVAST Software gained its 130 millionth user at 7:52:52 (Central European Time) on September 7 according to a September 14 press release. http://www.avast.com/pr-avast-software-crosses-the-130-million-user-threshold
Avast is now claiming that they are the world’s most popular antivirus program in three categories: the size of its registered user base, its growth in the number of users during 2010, and in the high level of referrals from users.
AVG is claiming more 110 million active users on their website http://www.avg.com/us-en/avg-company-profile. They have mentioned 130 million on their site, as well, and in the press. The two companies may be defining “active” differently.
AVAST also seems to have “Pirate English” as an option for individuals licensing their software.
Thursday, September 02, 2010
AVG 2011 – Available September 29 - Rush to Release – Part III
According to a comment on an executive blog on the AVG Technologies web site, the next release of AVG’s product line should occur be around the end of September. This would be version 10.0 (AVG 2011, AVG Internet Security 10.0?). AVG’s last major release was version 9.0. This release occurred over a period of several weeks beginning in late September 2009. This release may occur before AVG Technologies completes their Initial Public Offering (IPO).
September 28 addendum - AVG 2011 should be available September 29.
According to the blog, which focused on AVG Threat Labs (currently in beta) offering, “We expect to launch the full consumer version of AVG’s Threat Labs in late September coinciding with our launch of AVG 2011.”
http://jrsmith.blog.avg.com/2010/09/avg-threat-labs-an-exciting-new-threat-informational-portal.html
There are some YouTube video reviews of AVG 2011. For those interested, the following link contains a fairly long list of under the hood improvements to AVG 2011. http://www.mostiwant.com/blog/avg-internet-security-2011-beta/
2011 Internet Security Solutions Released
• BitDefender Total Security 2011 was released around August 16. For product details - http://www.bitdefender.com/solutions/total-security.
• Kaspersky - Kaspersky announced Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 on August 16 For product details -http://usa.kaspersky.com/products_services/compare/
• Panda Security – Panda Internet Security Suite 2011 was announced on July 27. For product details - http://www.pandasecurity.com/usa/homeusers/solutions/
• Webroot - Webroot Internet Security Complete 2011 was announced on July 26. For product details http://www.webroot.com/En_US/consumer-compare.html
2011 Internet Security Solutions That Haven’t Been Released
• Trend Micro – should be releasing their next generation of Internet Security solutions before the middle of September.
• Symantec – No official release date has been announced for Norton Internet Security 2011.
• McAfee – No official release date has been announced for the next release of McAfee Total Protection.
• Avast – No official release date has been announced.
• Avira – No official release data has been announced.
AVG Threat Labs – Currently in Beta
According to the executive blog, “Threat Labs combines (this) data with consumer comments in a simple, easy-to-use website that explains clearly if a site that you wish to visit, or own, is safe or not and what people are saying about it."
AVG Threat Labs offers the same real time analysis as AVG’s LinkScanner®. It allows someone to enter a URL and find out whether or not that site is safe to visit. The individual can also view a brief 30 day site report on that particular website. http://www.avgthreatlabs.com/sitereports/. AVG Threat Labs should be out of beta near the end of September.
This ability to check a website without having LinkScanner installed is similar to what McAfee has been offering on their SiteAdvisor site for several years. Visitors enter a URL. They are then informed whether or not the site is safe to visit or contains some kind of dangerous malware. They can also view a report on the URL they have entered. http://www.siteadvisor.com/.
AVG Technologies’ Initial Public Offering (IPO)
There is no official date as to when AVG Technologies will have their initial public offering on the London (UK) exchange. For more information, go to "AVG Technologies Prepares To Go Public" http://kensek.blogspot.com/2010/07/avg-technologies-prepares-to-go-public.html
The August 13 issue of the IFR European ECM Briefing doesn't provide a lot additional detail about the upcoming IPO. AVG Technologies is mentioned as being in the Q3/Q4 pipeline with an estimated value of US $300m-400m. http://www.ifrbriefings.com/examples/euro_ecm.pdf This came out before Intel's offer to acquire McAfee.
The market for security companies appears to be hot. McAfee accepted an offer to be acquired by Intel for a premium of 60% over the previous day’s closing price on August 18. http://newsroom.mcafee.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=3678.
Arcsight put the company up for sale on August 26 and the stock price immediately increased around $7 per share. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67P4X720100826
In August, growth equity investor Summit Partners invested $100 million for a minority stake in Avast Software http://www.avast.com/pr-growth-equity-investor-summit-partners-invests-100-million-in-avast-software. Avast and AVG Technologies both have a total installed base of over 110 (130?) million seats. Avast typically comes in a relatively close second to AVG Technologies on the CNET download site for free antivirus software. Avir typically comes in third.
Look for Norton Internet Security 2011 to be released sometime during September.
September 28 addendum - AVG 2011 should be available September 29.
According to the blog, which focused on AVG Threat Labs (currently in beta) offering, “We expect to launch the full consumer version of AVG’s Threat Labs in late September coinciding with our launch of AVG 2011.”
http://jrsmith.blog.avg.com/2010/09/avg-threat-labs-an-exciting-new-threat-informational-portal.html
There are some YouTube video reviews of AVG 2011. For those interested, the following link contains a fairly long list of under the hood improvements to AVG 2011. http://www.mostiwant.com/blog/avg-internet-security-2011-beta/
2011 Internet Security Solutions Released
• BitDefender Total Security 2011 was released around August 16. For product details - http://www.bitdefender.com/solutions/total-security.
• Kaspersky - Kaspersky announced Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 on August 16 For product details -http://usa.kaspersky.com/products_services/compare/
• Panda Security – Panda Internet Security Suite 2011 was announced on July 27. For product details - http://www.pandasecurity.com/usa/homeusers/solutions/
• Webroot - Webroot Internet Security Complete 2011 was announced on July 26. For product details http://www.webroot.com/En_US/consumer-compare.html
2011 Internet Security Solutions That Haven’t Been Released
• Trend Micro – should be releasing their next generation of Internet Security solutions before the middle of September.
• Symantec – No official release date has been announced for Norton Internet Security 2011.
• McAfee – No official release date has been announced for the next release of McAfee Total Protection.
• Avast – No official release date has been announced.
• Avira – No official release data has been announced.
AVG Threat Labs – Currently in Beta
According to the executive blog, “Threat Labs combines (this) data with consumer comments in a simple, easy-to-use website that explains clearly if a site that you wish to visit, or own, is safe or not and what people are saying about it."
AVG Threat Labs offers the same real time analysis as AVG’s LinkScanner®. It allows someone to enter a URL and find out whether or not that site is safe to visit. The individual can also view a brief 30 day site report on that particular website. http://www.avgthreatlabs.com/sitereports/. AVG Threat Labs should be out of beta near the end of September.
This ability to check a website without having LinkScanner installed is similar to what McAfee has been offering on their SiteAdvisor site for several years. Visitors enter a URL. They are then informed whether or not the site is safe to visit or contains some kind of dangerous malware. They can also view a report on the URL they have entered. http://www.siteadvisor.com/.
AVG Technologies’ Initial Public Offering (IPO)
There is no official date as to when AVG Technologies will have their initial public offering on the London (UK) exchange. For more information, go to "AVG Technologies Prepares To Go Public" http://kensek.blogspot.com/2010/07/avg-technologies-prepares-to-go-public.html
The August 13 issue of the IFR European ECM Briefing doesn't provide a lot additional detail about the upcoming IPO. AVG Technologies is mentioned as being in the Q3/Q4 pipeline with an estimated value of US $300m-400m. http://www.ifrbriefings.com/examples/euro_ecm.pdf This came out before Intel's offer to acquire McAfee.
The market for security companies appears to be hot. McAfee accepted an offer to be acquired by Intel for a premium of 60% over the previous day’s closing price on August 18. http://newsroom.mcafee.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=3678.
Arcsight put the company up for sale on August 26 and the stock price immediately increased around $7 per share. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67P4X720100826
In August, growth equity investor Summit Partners invested $100 million for a minority stake in Avast Software http://www.avast.com/pr-growth-equity-investor-summit-partners-invests-100-million-in-avast-software. Avast and AVG Technologies both have a total installed base of over 110 (130?) million seats. Avast typically comes in a relatively close second to AVG Technologies on the CNET download site for free antivirus software. Avir typically comes in third.
Look for Norton Internet Security 2011 to be released sometime during September.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
July 2010 Internet Security Performance Test by AV-Comparatives
Testing organization AV-Comparatives issued a 17 page report: “Performance Test (Suite Products). Impact of Security Suites on System Performance”. This was NOT a test on Internet Security Suite effectiveness. Panda Internet Security 2011 received the top score among the products tested. The complete report can be viewed and/or downloaded at http://www.av-comparatives.org/comparativesreviews/performance-tests
Internet Security Suites Tested
The products tested were: avast! Internet Security 5.0, AVG Internet Security 9.0, BitDefender Internet Security 2010, eScan Internet Security Suite 10, ESET Smart Security 4.2, F-Secure Internet Security 2011, G DATA Internet Security 2011, Kaspersky Internet Security 2011, Kingsoft Internet Security 2010, Norman Security Suite Pro 8, Panda Internet Security 2011, PC Tools Internet Security 2011, Symantec Norton Internet Security 2011
The tasks performed (multiple times) to measure performance were - File copying, Archiving / Unarchiving, Encoding / Transcoding, Installing / Uninstalling applications, Launching applications, Downloading files, Worldbench Testing Suite (XP).
Internet Security Solutions Receiving Advanced Certification
Nine companys’ internet security solutions received AV Comparative’s advanced certification level. Panda Internet Security 2011 received the top overall score. Note above which products were 2010 and which ones were 2011 releases. The product’s overall weighted scores were as follows:
1. Panda - 195
2. Kingsoft - 185
3. Norman - 181
4. Symantec - 179
5. eScan - 179
6. ESET - 177
7. Avast - 176
8. F-Secure - 173
9. AVG - 172
The above is a weighted average summary score. The 17 page report has multiple tables and additional details.
Boot Time Measurements Not Part of Testing
The report goes into great detail as to why boot times were not part of the test. In part, they said, “We did not test boot-times on purpose. Security products need to load on systems at an early stage to provide security from the very beginning – this load has some impact on the time needed for a system to start up. Measuring boot times accurately is challenging. The most significant issue is to define exactly when the system is fully started, as many operating environments may continue to perform start-up activities for some time after the system appears responsive to the user.” It’s worth reading the complete explanation on page 4 of the reports, as some vendors “game” their install, to make it look quicker, at the cost of protecting the customer.
Considerations in Selecting an Internet Security Solution
In the end, more critical factors in selecting an internet security solution include: are: which product provides the protection I need, which product provides any additional functionality I need, what is the price. Some of these performance criteria can be used as a tie breaker. They should not be the first cut in selecting an internet security solution. For information on some of the 2011 products that were included in this test, go to. “Internet Security 2011 – The Rush to Release” http://kensek.blogspot.com/2010/08/internet-security-2011-rush-to-release.htm and ‘Internet Security 2011 – The Rush to Release Part II” http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/central/
About AV-Comparatives
AV-Comparatives is an Austrian Non-Profit-Organization, which is providing independent Anti-Virus software tests free to the public http://www.av-comparatives.org/about-us
Internet Security Suites Tested
The products tested were: avast! Internet Security 5.0, AVG Internet Security 9.0, BitDefender Internet Security 2010, eScan Internet Security Suite 10, ESET Smart Security 4.2, F-Secure Internet Security 2011, G DATA Internet Security 2011, Kaspersky Internet Security 2011, Kingsoft Internet Security 2010, Norman Security Suite Pro 8, Panda Internet Security 2011, PC Tools Internet Security 2011, Symantec Norton Internet Security 2011
The tasks performed (multiple times) to measure performance were - File copying, Archiving / Unarchiving, Encoding / Transcoding, Installing / Uninstalling applications, Launching applications, Downloading files, Worldbench Testing Suite (XP).
Internet Security Solutions Receiving Advanced Certification
Nine companys’ internet security solutions received AV Comparative’s advanced certification level. Panda Internet Security 2011 received the top overall score. Note above which products were 2010 and which ones were 2011 releases. The product’s overall weighted scores were as follows:
1. Panda - 195
2. Kingsoft - 185
3. Norman - 181
4. Symantec - 179
5. eScan - 179
6. ESET - 177
7. Avast - 176
8. F-Secure - 173
9. AVG - 172
The above is a weighted average summary score. The 17 page report has multiple tables and additional details.
Boot Time Measurements Not Part of Testing
The report goes into great detail as to why boot times were not part of the test. In part, they said, “We did not test boot-times on purpose. Security products need to load on systems at an early stage to provide security from the very beginning – this load has some impact on the time needed for a system to start up. Measuring boot times accurately is challenging. The most significant issue is to define exactly when the system is fully started, as many operating environments may continue to perform start-up activities for some time after the system appears responsive to the user.” It’s worth reading the complete explanation on page 4 of the reports, as some vendors “game” their install, to make it look quicker, at the cost of protecting the customer.
Considerations in Selecting an Internet Security Solution
In the end, more critical factors in selecting an internet security solution include: are: which product provides the protection I need, which product provides any additional functionality I need, what is the price. Some of these performance criteria can be used as a tie breaker. They should not be the first cut in selecting an internet security solution. For information on some of the 2011 products that were included in this test, go to. “Internet Security 2011 – The Rush to Release” http://kensek.blogspot.com/2010/08/internet-security-2011-rush-to-release.htm and ‘Internet Security 2011 – The Rush to Release Part II” http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/central/
About AV-Comparatives
AV-Comparatives is an Austrian Non-Profit-Organization, which is providing independent Anti-Virus software tests free to the public http://www.av-comparatives.org/about-us
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Internet Security 2011 – Rush to Release Part II
Two additional Internet Security providers have joined Panda Security and Webroot with their Internet Security 2011 solutions. BitDefender and Kaspersky. Internet Security providers typically have their consumer products released by the end of the third quarter.
Leading the Internet Security 2011 Pack - Panda, Webroot, Kaspersky, and BitDefender
• BitDefender Total Security 2011 was released around August 16. BitDefender AntiVirus Pro 2011 and BitDefender Internet Security 2011 were also released. Enhancements in Total Security 2011 include: enhanced detection, QuickScan, Search Advisor, Smart Scan, Enhanced Game and Laptop Modes, an Adaptive design user interface, Dashboard Shortcuts, and Smart Tips. You can learn more about what’s new at http://www.bitdefender.com/solutions/total-security.html . A review of the product by PC Magazine's Neil Rubenking is at http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2367844,00.asp
• Kaspersky announced Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 on August 16, as well. They’ve strengthened their real-time protection story. New in the product is Kaspersky Desktop Gadget, System Watcher, Geo Filter, Safe Surf, Safe Desktop (similar to a sandbox), communication protection via IM or Social Networks, and Online Controls, There have also put in new proactive anti-phishing protection, advanced parental controls, and built in rescue disk. You can compare their Anti-Virus 2011 and Internet Security 2011 products at http://usa.kaspersky.com/products_services/compare/. A review of the product by PC Magazine’s Neil Rubenking is at http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2367794,00.asp
• Panda Security – Panda Internet Security Suite 2011 has been out the door for several weeks. Some of the new features, depending on the product include: Secure Browser, PC Remote Access, File Encryption, and File Shredding. You can compare their home user products at http://www.pandasecurity.com/usa/homeusers/solutions/
• Webroot - Webroot Internet Security Complete 2011 has been out the door for several weeks. You can compare their home user products at http://www.webroot.com/En_US/consumer-compare.html
The 800 Pound Gorillas
Both McAfee and Symantec were trading near 52 week lows on their respective stock exchanges (as of August 17). Intel has since acquired McAfee.
• McAfee - Total Protection is available in public beta. http://beta.mcafee.com/betamcafee/Home.aspx?cookieCheck=true
• Symantec - Norton Internet Security 2011 is in public beta. Features/benefits they’re promoting – Norton Download Insight, Safe Web, Faster and Lighter, Proactive Performance Alerts, and New Rescue tools. http://www.symantec.com/norton/beta/
• Trend Micro – Their Syncsort product is in beta but not their security suite. https://www.trendbeta.com/pages/main
Others in Beta
AVG Technologies has made no announcement as to the exact date their Initial Public Offering (IPO) will occur on the London (UK) exchange. Going public first followed by a positively reviewed and received product could provide a positive uptick in the stock price. For more on this, go to http://kensek.blogspot.com/2010/07/avg-technologies-prepares-to-go-public.html
• AVG Technologies – AVG Internet Security 10.0 (assuming this is the name) is in public beta. From their beta site - the publishing of any information on AVG Beta testing is subjected (sic) to AVG approval. http://www.avg.com/us-en/29571
• ESET – Their Mac AV product and a mobile security product. http://beta.eset.com/
• F-Secure – A public beta of F-Secure Internet Security 2011 is available. Enhancements in 2011 will include (as described on their beta site):
- Easier and faster to use -- Based on multiple usability studies, the user interface of IS 2011 has been improved, giving easy access to the most important tasks and features.
- Reliable protection -- Automated malware removal logic has been taken to a new level by utilizing prevalence information from F-Secure cloud services
- Easier to take into use
http://www.f-secure.com/en_EMEA/downloads/beta-programs/home-office/is2011beta/registration.html.
Look for more releases and reviews in the coming weeks. Bragging rights and lines of online content are at stake.
Leading the Internet Security 2011 Pack - Panda, Webroot, Kaspersky, and BitDefender
• BitDefender Total Security 2011 was released around August 16. BitDefender AntiVirus Pro 2011 and BitDefender Internet Security 2011 were also released. Enhancements in Total Security 2011 include: enhanced detection, QuickScan, Search Advisor, Smart Scan, Enhanced Game and Laptop Modes, an Adaptive design user interface, Dashboard Shortcuts, and Smart Tips. You can learn more about what’s new at http://www.bitdefender.com/solutions/total-security.html . A review of the product by PC Magazine's Neil Rubenking is at http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2367844,00.asp
• Kaspersky announced Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 on August 16, as well. They’ve strengthened their real-time protection story. New in the product is Kaspersky Desktop Gadget, System Watcher, Geo Filter, Safe Surf, Safe Desktop (similar to a sandbox), communication protection via IM or Social Networks, and Online Controls, There have also put in new proactive anti-phishing protection, advanced parental controls, and built in rescue disk. You can compare their Anti-Virus 2011 and Internet Security 2011 products at http://usa.kaspersky.com/products_services/compare/. A review of the product by PC Magazine’s Neil Rubenking is at http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2367794,00.asp
• Panda Security – Panda Internet Security Suite 2011 has been out the door for several weeks. Some of the new features, depending on the product include: Secure Browser, PC Remote Access, File Encryption, and File Shredding. You can compare their home user products at http://www.pandasecurity.com/usa/homeusers/solutions/
• Webroot - Webroot Internet Security Complete 2011 has been out the door for several weeks. You can compare their home user products at http://www.webroot.com/En_US/consumer-compare.html
The 800 Pound Gorillas
Both McAfee and Symantec were trading near 52 week lows on their respective stock exchanges (as of August 17). Intel has since acquired McAfee.
• McAfee - Total Protection is available in public beta. http://beta.mcafee.com/betamcafee/Home.aspx?cookieCheck=true
• Symantec - Norton Internet Security 2011 is in public beta. Features/benefits they’re promoting – Norton Download Insight, Safe Web, Faster and Lighter, Proactive Performance Alerts, and New Rescue tools. http://www.symantec.com/norton/beta/
• Trend Micro – Their Syncsort product is in beta but not their security suite. https://www.trendbeta.com/pages/main
Others in Beta
AVG Technologies has made no announcement as to the exact date their Initial Public Offering (IPO) will occur on the London (UK) exchange. Going public first followed by a positively reviewed and received product could provide a positive uptick in the stock price. For more on this, go to http://kensek.blogspot.com/2010/07/avg-technologies-prepares-to-go-public.html
• AVG Technologies – AVG Internet Security 10.0 (assuming this is the name) is in public beta. From their beta site - the publishing of any information on AVG Beta testing is subjected (sic) to AVG approval. http://www.avg.com/us-en/29571
• ESET – Their Mac AV product and a mobile security product. http://beta.eset.com/
• F-Secure – A public beta of F-Secure Internet Security 2011 is available. Enhancements in 2011 will include (as described on their beta site):
- Easier and faster to use -- Based on multiple usability studies, the user interface of IS 2011 has been improved, giving easy access to the most important tasks and features.
- Reliable protection -- Automated malware removal logic has been taken to a new level by utilizing prevalence information from F-Secure cloud services
- Easier to take into use
http://www.f-secure.com/en_EMEA/downloads/beta-programs/home-office/is2011beta/registration.html.
Look for more releases and reviews in the coming weeks. Bragging rights and lines of online content are at stake.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Virus Bulletin Reactive and Proactive (RAP) Test Results and August VB100 Awards
Virus Bulletin has published their latest Reactive and Proactive (RAP) test results (February through August 2010) and posted their latest VB100 results.
Virus Bulletin Reactive and Proactive (RAP) Test
Those vendors with Reactive Detection rates greater than 90% and Proactive Detection rates greater than 70% were: Avira Pro, Ikarus, G DATA, Emisoft, Kaspersky, ESET, Coranti, Check Point, and TrustPort. TrustPort topped everyone in both categories, and G DATA had the second best Reactive Detection rate. AVG Technologies just missed being in this group.
Neither McAfee nor Microsoft nor Symantec cleared the 90%/70% hurdle mentioned above with the products Virus Bulletin tested, however.
The RAP 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 new malware emerging every day across the world.
A fourth test set consists of malware samples first seen in the week after product submission. This test set gauges products' ability to detect new and unknown samples proactively, using heuristic and generic techniques. Proactive detection is becoming increasingly more important given the quantity and rate an which new viruses and malware are created.
The chart can best be viewed at http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/rap-index.xml . Detailed information about testing methodology is at http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/vb200902-RAP-tests . This information and the chart are available at no charge. Virus Bulletin subscribers have access to the detailed results.
Virus Bulletin VB 100 Awards
To display the VB100 logo, an anti-virus product must have demonstrated that:
• It detects all In the Wild viruses during both on-demand and on-access scanning.
• It generates no false positives when scanning a set of clean files.
54 products were tested on the Windows Vista SP2 Business Edition. http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archive/2010/08 . Some abbreviated results:
The free Amigo’s - Avast, AVG Technologies, and Avira all received VB100 awards. Only Avast appears to have had their “free” product tested.
The 800 Pound Gorillas - Trend Micro wasn’t tested (there’s a story here). Symantec and PC Tools (two products, they’re owned by Symantec) received VB100 awards. Microsoft received a VB100. McAfee failed with both products tested.
G DATA, which did so well in the RAP testing, did not receive a VB100.
Complete details about the VB100 testing is at http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/about/100procedure.xml
Some companies, more than others will proactively put a spin on how many consecutive VB100 awards they have received. The reality is that only the most recent few years and on platforms actively being used are important. Complete track records, by vendor is at http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archive/results?display=vendors . Let the spinning begin.
UK based Virus Bulletin started in 1989 (www.virusbtn.com). 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. VB’s website is at www.virusbtn.com . The site is a great source of information on malware and spam. They are a member of the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization, www.AMTSO.org.
Virus Bulletin Reactive and Proactive (RAP) Test
Those vendors with Reactive Detection rates greater than 90% and Proactive Detection rates greater than 70% were: Avira Pro, Ikarus, G DATA, Emisoft, Kaspersky, ESET, Coranti, Check Point, and TrustPort. TrustPort topped everyone in both categories, and G DATA had the second best Reactive Detection rate. AVG Technologies just missed being in this group.
Neither McAfee nor Microsoft nor Symantec cleared the 90%/70% hurdle mentioned above with the products Virus Bulletin tested, however.
The RAP 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 new malware emerging every day across the world.
A fourth test set consists of malware samples first seen in the week after product submission. This test set gauges products' ability to detect new and unknown samples proactively, using heuristic and generic techniques. Proactive detection is becoming increasingly more important given the quantity and rate an which new viruses and malware are created.
The chart can best be viewed at http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/rap-index.xml . Detailed information about testing methodology is at http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/vb200902-RAP-tests . This information and the chart are available at no charge. Virus Bulletin subscribers have access to the detailed results.
Virus Bulletin VB 100 Awards
To display the VB100 logo, an anti-virus product must have demonstrated that:
• It detects all In the Wild viruses during both on-demand and on-access scanning.
• It generates no false positives when scanning a set of clean files.
54 products were tested on the Windows Vista SP2 Business Edition. http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archive/2010/08 . Some abbreviated results:
The free Amigo’s - Avast, AVG Technologies, and Avira all received VB100 awards. Only Avast appears to have had their “free” product tested.
The 800 Pound Gorillas - Trend Micro wasn’t tested (there’s a story here). Symantec and PC Tools (two products, they’re owned by Symantec) received VB100 awards. Microsoft received a VB100. McAfee failed with both products tested.
G DATA, which did so well in the RAP testing, did not receive a VB100.
Complete details about the VB100 testing is at http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/about/100procedure.xml
Some companies, more than others will proactively put a spin on how many consecutive VB100 awards they have received. The reality is that only the most recent few years and on platforms actively being used are important. Complete track records, by vendor is at http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archive/results?display=vendors . Let the spinning begin.
UK based Virus Bulletin started in 1989 (www.virusbtn.com). 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. VB’s website is at www.virusbtn.com . The site is a great source of information on malware and spam. They are a member of the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization, www.AMTSO.org.
Saturday, August 07, 2010
Internet Security 2011 - The Rush to Release
August means a few things. Some nations east of the pond shut down for summer vacation. The NFL is in the midst of training camp. The Perseids meteror shower. Internet security suite providers rush to finish beta and release their Internet Security 2011 and Antivirus products before Q4. Laggards in the rush to release may not make it into the print edition of Internet Security round-ups that have early deadlines. They may find that buying decisions are being made using a 2010 review with people comparing 2010 product reviews to a competitor's 2011 release and current review.
Look for publications like PC Magazine (Rubenking), PC World (Mediati, others?), and PCPro (Graham-Smith) to get reviews of the 2011 Internet Security suites into their review queue once the products are released. Computerworld may take a little while longer since they reviewed 9 2010 suites in July “9 security suites: maximum protection, minimum fuss”. http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9179499/9_security_suites_maximum_protection_minimum_fuss_ .
Below is the status of where some of the major security vendors are with respect to their consumer 2011 offerings (as of August 6). The list isn’t exhaustive. Sophos is business focused security play, so they’re not included below. Where a public beta is available, individuals should be able to register and download product.
Internet Security 2011 Shipping
• Panda Security – Panda Internet Security Suite 2011 is released! http://www.pandasecurity.com/usa/homeusers/ Germany based AV-Test has tested the product.
• Webroot - Webroot Internet Security Complete 2011 is released! http://www.webroot.com/En_US/consumer.html It has already been reviewed by PC Magazine.
The 800 Pound Gorillas - Beta
• McAfee - Total Protection is available in public beta. http://beta.mcafee.com/betamcafee/Home.aspx?cookieCheck=true
• Symantec - Norton Internet Security 2011 suite is in public beta. http://www.symantec.com/norton/beta/
• Trend Micro – Their Syncsort product is in beta but not their security suite. https://www.trendbeta.com/pages/main
Others in Beta
• AVG Technologies – Consumer security suite is in public beta. http://www.avg.com/us-en/29571
• BitDefender - BitDefender has a pair of consumer products available in public beta. http://beta.bitdefender.com/
• ESET – Their Mac AV product and a mobile security product. http://beta.eset.com/
• F-Secure – A public beta of F-Secure Internet Security 2011 is available. http://www.f-secure.com/en_EMEA/downloads/beta-programs/home-office/is2011beta/registration.html
No Beta Available?
• Avast - ????
• Avira – No products are available in their current beta program.
• Kaspersky - No public beta for their consumer product seems to be available. PC Pro seems to have reviewed 2011 but the product isn't on Kasperky's web site.
• ZoneAlarm – Only their free firewall.
What New Will Be In 2011 Internet Security Suites?
It will vary. Some of the above sites will have you agree to not publish any information about the beta before you can download the software. For competitive reasons, internet security providers are under pressure to incorporate new features. At the same time, industry pundits are complaining about bloat ware. Some surveys are showing that many are people are satisfied with basic protection. There’s a perception that any slowing down of a PC/laptop is due to the security software. Avira, Avast, AVG Technologies, and PC Tools (owned by Symantec) provide free basic protection and then encourage you to upgrade to a more comprehensive solution. Also, look for internet security vendors not stressing new functionality to promote things like: improved detection, smaller footprints, faster scanning time (though you can always schedule scans when you're aware from your laptop), and other under the hood enhancements.
For those interested in learning what constitutes test best practices, go to the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization (AMTSO) web site. www.amtso.org
Look for publications like PC Magazine (Rubenking), PC World (Mediati, others?), and PCPro (Graham-Smith) to get reviews of the 2011 Internet Security suites into their review queue once the products are released. Computerworld may take a little while longer since they reviewed 9 2010 suites in July “9 security suites: maximum protection, minimum fuss”. http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9179499/9_security_suites_maximum_protection_minimum_fuss_ .
Below is the status of where some of the major security vendors are with respect to their consumer 2011 offerings (as of August 6). The list isn’t exhaustive. Sophos is business focused security play, so they’re not included below. Where a public beta is available, individuals should be able to register and download product.
Internet Security 2011 Shipping
• Panda Security – Panda Internet Security Suite 2011 is released! http://www.pandasecurity.com/usa/homeusers/ Germany based AV-Test has tested the product.
• Webroot - Webroot Internet Security Complete 2011 is released! http://www.webroot.com/En_US/consumer.html It has already been reviewed by PC Magazine.
The 800 Pound Gorillas - Beta
• McAfee - Total Protection is available in public beta. http://beta.mcafee.com/betamcafee/Home.aspx?cookieCheck=true
• Symantec - Norton Internet Security 2011 suite is in public beta. http://www.symantec.com/norton/beta/
• Trend Micro – Their Syncsort product is in beta but not their security suite. https://www.trendbeta.com/pages/main
Others in Beta
• AVG Technologies – Consumer security suite is in public beta. http://www.avg.com/us-en/29571
• BitDefender - BitDefender has a pair of consumer products available in public beta. http://beta.bitdefender.com/
• ESET – Their Mac AV product and a mobile security product. http://beta.eset.com/
• F-Secure – A public beta of F-Secure Internet Security 2011 is available. http://www.f-secure.com/en_EMEA/downloads/beta-programs/home-office/is2011beta/registration.html
No Beta Available?
• Avast - ????
• Avira – No products are available in their current beta program.
• Kaspersky - No public beta for their consumer product seems to be available. PC Pro seems to have reviewed 2011 but the product isn't on Kasperky's web site.
• ZoneAlarm – Only their free firewall.
What New Will Be In 2011 Internet Security Suites?
It will vary. Some of the above sites will have you agree to not publish any information about the beta before you can download the software. For competitive reasons, internet security providers are under pressure to incorporate new features. At the same time, industry pundits are complaining about bloat ware. Some surveys are showing that many are people are satisfied with basic protection. There’s a perception that any slowing down of a PC/laptop is due to the security software. Avira, Avast, AVG Technologies, and PC Tools (owned by Symantec) provide free basic protection and then encourage you to upgrade to a more comprehensive solution. Also, look for internet security vendors not stressing new functionality to promote things like: improved detection, smaller footprints, faster scanning time (though you can always schedule scans when you're aware from your laptop), and other under the hood enhancements.
For those interested in learning what constitutes test best practices, go to the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization (AMTSO) web site. www.amtso.org
Monday, July 26, 2010
AVG Technologies Proposes Initial Public Offering (IPO) on NYSE
February 2, 2012 Addendum from Reuters - AVG Tech shares fall on market debut
“Shares of AVG Technologies NV (AVG.N), the maker of free PC and mobile anti-virus software, fell 19 percent on their market debut as investors grow wary of high valuations for newly listed technology companies.”
AVG shares closed at $13, which would mean a company valuation of $707 million. Shares had been sold to investors at $16. For the complete article:
www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/02/us-avgtech-idUSTRE8112EZ20120202
If you scroll down further in this blog, my estimated valuation in mid 2010 was about $750 to $800 million. I increased this to over $1.2 billion earlier this year (more recent revenue data).
January 13, 2012 update - AVG Technologies announced on January 13 that it has filed a Registration Statement on Form F-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the proposed initial public offering (IPO) of its ordinary shares. AVG has applied to list its ordinary shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "AVG."
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/avg-technologies-announces-filing-for-proposed-initial-public-offering-2012-01-13
This is a change from previously when they were talking about going doing an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange or Warsaw Stock Exchange. According to Reuters, AVG Technologies has filed for the IPO for up to $125 million. The bookrunning managers for the proposed offering are Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Goldman, Sachs & Co. Co-managers for the proposed offering are Allen & Company LLC, Cowen and Company, LLC and JMP Securities LLC. AVG had revenues of $218 million in 2010 and $198 million through Q3 2011.
Original Blog From August 2010
Last week, it was announced that “AVG Technologies has appointed Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and UBS as bookrunners for its upcoming IPO (initial public offering), with Jefferies acting as co-lead manager. The software firm is understood to be planning a primary listing in London to access institutional investors in the UK, but marketing will focus on American investors as AVG’s brand is strongest in the US”. http://www.ifre.com/equities-avg-appoints-for-uk-ipo/598999.article.
IPO Date?
So when will internet security provider AVG Technologies go public on the London Stock Exchange? – No official date has been announced. Earlier this year the company talked about going public during the latter half of 2010. The Prague Post had a fairly extensive chat with the company in April (Chasing a Billion Dollar Market)about AVG in general, and this was brought up. One question is whether the IPO will occur before or after the next major release of the company’s product lines. Going public before release could allow for a nice uptick, should the new version be favorably reviewed by the marketplace.
IPO activity has been relatively slow during calendar year 2010. Activity for initial public offerings seems to be increasing during the second half of 2010 versus the first half.
A number of competing companies will introduce new versions in the Q3 timeframe. Symantec has Norton Internet Security and Norton Antivirus in beta. Trend Micro’s Virus Scan API is in beta. McAfee Total Protection 4.5 is in beta. BitDefender Total Security 2011 and their Mac security product are in beta. Panda has rolled out their 2011 product line. Webroot has rolled out their consumer Internet Security suite. This isn't a comprehensive list. In order to be part of boxed promotions in the retail channel for their internet security suite, AVG is going to have to release something by early October, at the latest.
Market Capitalization
Valuating a software company for an IPO is always interesting. The market comparison approach was recommended in an article in Corporate Finance Review. In this approach, the company going public is compared to comparable publicly traded companies or recent transactions involving similar private companies.
A second approach they wrote about is using a revenue multiple of similar public software companies.
Potential comparable public traded companies to compare AVG Technologies to could include McAfee, Symantec, and Trend Micro. Potential reasons these aren't perfect: McAfee - Broader product line. They promote that they scale to the enterprise. They sell appliances, SW, and Software as a Service, which makes them a SW and HW company. They are a pure security play, however. Symantec has a broader product line than AVG. They promote that they scale to the enterprise while AVG is an SMB play. Symantec isn’t just a security company (Veritas acquisition, for example. Trend Micro has a broader product line. Their business products scale to the enterprise. Many of AVG Technologies’ competitors are private, so "numbers" are unavailable. So these three companies are probably the best comparable ones.
The author also discussed the asset approach (SW companies don’t possess a lot of physical assets) and the earnings approach. He wasn’t fond of the latter for a variety of reasons, including: the company may have been managed for growth, the company may have been focused on developing the technology, and valuation models based on earnings are highly sensitive to assumptions made. “Valuing Software Companies: One Size Does Not Fit All” Corporate Finance Review September/October 2007. http://www.thevenemareport.com/pdfs/3-Valuing%20Software%20Companies.pdf
Doing a comprehensive discounted cash flow analysis (while fun for quants) can be difficult. For AVG, there’s the free product, where revenue comes from someone other the home user. AVG gets revenue from the toolbar/Yahoo! (no, you’re not forced to use the Yahoo as your search engine). The “consumer paid” product line. Revenue from 3rd party partners who let individuals who want to download AVG Antivirus Free Edition upgrade to a paid product in exchange for purchasing something from the 3rd party. The “business paid” product line. The OEM business (deal with WatchGuard, for example http://www.watchguard.com/news/press-releases/wg438.asp ). There are the antivirus engine and the behavioral engines. Deals with ISPs. The Data Feed Solution (aggregate web activity of over 40mm AVG users marketed to 3rd parties) More detailed descriptions are on http://www.avg.com/us-en/gsa-solutions.
Other methods – Book Value, Internal Rate of Return (IRR) Profit/Sales Multiple, P/E (Price/Earnings ratio), Dunn-Rankin formula, free cash flow.
So what will the market capitalization of AVG Technologies be? (Note that the below uses no proprietary information!)
In October 2009, TA Associates paid more than $200 million for a 25% stake in AVG. “European Private Equity in Review”, full year 2009 edition at www.mergermarket.com. http://www.avg.com/us-en/press-releases-news.ndi-224903. This suggests that at the time of sale, 100% of the equity in AVG had a worth of about $800 million US.
In 2008, Symantec paid a revenue multiple of 5x and 4.8x for PC Tools and Message Labs, respectively. In 2009, McAfee paid a revenue multiple of 4.9x for MX Logic. Using a 5x multiple suggests a market cap of about $750 million US for AVG in early 2009. http://blog.updataadvisors.com/2009/11/05/avg-technologies-rakes-in-big-multiple-on-small-revenue/.
End of year 2009 revenue data? Unavailable. 2010 year to date revenue data? Publicly unavailable. It’s information like this that AVG, and the investment firms and bankers they’re partnering with are probably taking into “the room”, along with business projections for the next several years (with and without acquisitions), in order to arrive at an appropriate capitalization/valuation. Doing the math, and having an initial share price below what the math suggests is a way for a quick rise in price on opening day. An argument could be made that this leaves money on the table, however.
It will be interesting. Conversations may get intense. Beverages of all sorts will be consumed.
September Addendum
According to a Reuters article dated September 15, “Czech AVG's IPO to be worth 400-800 mln EUR” AVG Technologies Initial Public Offering “IPO” may take place in the first quarter of 2011. This is a change from what AVG has been saying. Previously, the London Exchange (UK) was mentioned as to where the company was going to be listed. Now it may be on the Warsaw exchange “and one other”. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSWSF00947520100915
This differs from a September 12 Financial Times article where “bankers have signaled they are aiming for an autumn listing.” “UK tech sector poised for deal flurry” http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/eed0f540-be9c-11df-a755-00144feab49a.html
The recent security technology acquisitions in North America may have contributed to the IPO not taking place third quarter
“Shares of AVG Technologies NV (AVG.N), the maker of free PC and mobile anti-virus software, fell 19 percent on their market debut as investors grow wary of high valuations for newly listed technology companies.”
AVG shares closed at $13, which would mean a company valuation of $707 million. Shares had been sold to investors at $16. For the complete article:
www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/02/us-avgtech-idUSTRE8112EZ20120202
If you scroll down further in this blog, my estimated valuation in mid 2010 was about $750 to $800 million. I increased this to over $1.2 billion earlier this year (more recent revenue data).
January 13, 2012 update - AVG Technologies announced on January 13 that it has filed a Registration Statement on Form F-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the proposed initial public offering (IPO) of its ordinary shares. AVG has applied to list its ordinary shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "AVG."
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/avg-technologies-announces-filing-for-proposed-initial-public-offering-2012-01-13
This is a change from previously when they were talking about going doing an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange or Warsaw Stock Exchange. According to Reuters, AVG Technologies has filed for the IPO for up to $125 million. The bookrunning managers for the proposed offering are Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Goldman, Sachs & Co. Co-managers for the proposed offering are Allen & Company LLC, Cowen and Company, LLC and JMP Securities LLC. AVG had revenues of $218 million in 2010 and $198 million through Q3 2011.
Original Blog From August 2010
Last week, it was announced that “AVG Technologies has appointed Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and UBS as bookrunners for its upcoming IPO (initial public offering), with Jefferies acting as co-lead manager. The software firm is understood to be planning a primary listing in London to access institutional investors in the UK, but marketing will focus on American investors as AVG’s brand is strongest in the US”. http://www.ifre.com/equities-avg-appoints-for-uk-ipo/598999.article.
IPO Date?
So when will internet security provider AVG Technologies go public on the London Stock Exchange? – No official date has been announced. Earlier this year the company talked about going public during the latter half of 2010. The Prague Post had a fairly extensive chat with the company in April (Chasing a Billion Dollar Market)about AVG in general, and this was brought up. One question is whether the IPO will occur before or after the next major release of the company’s product lines. Going public before release could allow for a nice uptick, should the new version be favorably reviewed by the marketplace.
IPO activity has been relatively slow during calendar year 2010. Activity for initial public offerings seems to be increasing during the second half of 2010 versus the first half.
A number of competing companies will introduce new versions in the Q3 timeframe. Symantec has Norton Internet Security and Norton Antivirus in beta. Trend Micro’s Virus Scan API is in beta. McAfee Total Protection 4.5 is in beta. BitDefender Total Security 2011 and their Mac security product are in beta. Panda has rolled out their 2011 product line. Webroot has rolled out their consumer Internet Security suite. This isn't a comprehensive list. In order to be part of boxed promotions in the retail channel for their internet security suite, AVG is going to have to release something by early October, at the latest.
Market Capitalization
Valuating a software company for an IPO is always interesting. The market comparison approach was recommended in an article in Corporate Finance Review. In this approach, the company going public is compared to comparable publicly traded companies or recent transactions involving similar private companies.
A second approach they wrote about is using a revenue multiple of similar public software companies.
Potential comparable public traded companies to compare AVG Technologies to could include McAfee, Symantec, and Trend Micro. Potential reasons these aren't perfect: McAfee - Broader product line. They promote that they scale to the enterprise. They sell appliances, SW, and Software as a Service, which makes them a SW and HW company. They are a pure security play, however. Symantec has a broader product line than AVG. They promote that they scale to the enterprise while AVG is an SMB play. Symantec isn’t just a security company (Veritas acquisition, for example. Trend Micro has a broader product line. Their business products scale to the enterprise. Many of AVG Technologies’ competitors are private, so "numbers" are unavailable. So these three companies are probably the best comparable ones.
The author also discussed the asset approach (SW companies don’t possess a lot of physical assets) and the earnings approach. He wasn’t fond of the latter for a variety of reasons, including: the company may have been managed for growth, the company may have been focused on developing the technology, and valuation models based on earnings are highly sensitive to assumptions made. “Valuing Software Companies: One Size Does Not Fit All” Corporate Finance Review September/October 2007. http://www.thevenemareport.com/pdfs/3-Valuing%20Software%20Companies.pdf
Doing a comprehensive discounted cash flow analysis (while fun for quants) can be difficult. For AVG, there’s the free product, where revenue comes from someone other the home user. AVG gets revenue from the toolbar/Yahoo! (no, you’re not forced to use the Yahoo as your search engine). The “consumer paid” product line. Revenue from 3rd party partners who let individuals who want to download AVG Antivirus Free Edition upgrade to a paid product in exchange for purchasing something from the 3rd party. The “business paid” product line. The OEM business (deal with WatchGuard, for example http://www.watchguard.com/news/press-releases/wg438.asp ). There are the antivirus engine and the behavioral engines. Deals with ISPs. The Data Feed Solution (aggregate web activity of over 40mm AVG users marketed to 3rd parties) More detailed descriptions are on http://www.avg.com/us-en/gsa-solutions.
Other methods – Book Value, Internal Rate of Return (IRR) Profit/Sales Multiple, P/E (Price/Earnings ratio), Dunn-Rankin formula, free cash flow.
So what will the market capitalization of AVG Technologies be? (Note that the below uses no proprietary information!)
In October 2009, TA Associates paid more than $200 million for a 25% stake in AVG. “European Private Equity in Review”, full year 2009 edition at www.mergermarket.com. http://www.avg.com/us-en/press-releases-news.ndi-224903. This suggests that at the time of sale, 100% of the equity in AVG had a worth of about $800 million US.
In 2008, Symantec paid a revenue multiple of 5x and 4.8x for PC Tools and Message Labs, respectively. In 2009, McAfee paid a revenue multiple of 4.9x for MX Logic. Using a 5x multiple suggests a market cap of about $750 million US for AVG in early 2009. http://blog.updataadvisors.com/2009/11/05/avg-technologies-rakes-in-big-multiple-on-small-revenue/.
End of year 2009 revenue data? Unavailable. 2010 year to date revenue data? Publicly unavailable. It’s information like this that AVG, and the investment firms and bankers they’re partnering with are probably taking into “the room”, along with business projections for the next several years (with and without acquisitions), in order to arrive at an appropriate capitalization/valuation. Doing the math, and having an initial share price below what the math suggests is a way for a quick rise in price on opening day. An argument could be made that this leaves money on the table, however.
It will be interesting. Conversations may get intense. Beverages of all sorts will be consumed.
September Addendum
According to a Reuters article dated September 15, “Czech AVG's IPO to be worth 400-800 mln EUR” AVG Technologies Initial Public Offering “IPO” may take place in the first quarter of 2011. This is a change from what AVG has been saying. Previously, the London Exchange (UK) was mentioned as to where the company was going to be listed. Now it may be on the Warsaw exchange “and one other”. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSWSF00947520100915
This differs from a September 12 Financial Times article where “bankers have signaled they are aiming for an autumn listing.” “UK tech sector poised for deal flurry” http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/eed0f540-be9c-11df-a755-00144feab49a.html
The recent security technology acquisitions in North America may have contributed to the IPO not taking place third quarter
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Bitdefender issues ‘H1 2010 E-Threats Landscape Report”
One bad Trojan is all it takes. For the first half of 2010, Trojan.Autoruninf.Gen accounted for over 11% of worldwide malware infections. According to the report’s contributors, the autorun technique is used by worm writers as a means of spreading their evil creation through mapped network drives or removable USB media, for example. Internet security providers had their work cut out for them.
The 33 page report is an interesting look backwards at the first half of the year. It’s vendor neutral. It’s actually a quick read with a number of graphics. For those who want a nice summary (if nice is the word), the report is worth downloading. This report isn't a "how to protect yourself" publication. The report looks at:
• Malware Threats in Review
• Spam and Phishing
• Phishing and Identity Theft
• Vulnerabilities, Exploits and Security Breaches
Other techniques talked about in the white paper besides Trojans that were used heavily included in the first half of the year included instant messaging worms and rogue AV software.
China and the Russian Federation have the negative distinction of being the predominant hosts for malware during the first ½ of 2010, at 31% and 22% respectively.
For Facebook® users, it was Koobface that wormed its way into the 500 million member community. Facebook Friends would find themselves receiving what looked to be a URL to a video page. Instead it would lead to an infected executable file.
Clickjacking was also a source of problems for the Facebook community as was deployment of adware via third-party rogue applications for Facebook®.
The US had its own negative claim to fame in the study. 28% of spam distribution by point of origin came from the US. China was distant second at 5%.
There are a few predictions for the latter half of this year.
• Botnet activity may increase
• Rogue software (particular AV) will trend upward
• Social networking sites such as Facebook will continue to be targeted
• In the Mobile OS world, threats will still be a rarity. However, Symbian, because of its 44% share, is the most likely target
The full report is available at http://www.bitdefender.com/files/News/file/H1_2010_E-Threats_Landscape_Report.pdf
The 33 page report is an interesting look backwards at the first half of the year. It’s vendor neutral. It’s actually a quick read with a number of graphics. For those who want a nice summary (if nice is the word), the report is worth downloading. This report isn't a "how to protect yourself" publication. The report looks at:
• Malware Threats in Review
• Spam and Phishing
• Phishing and Identity Theft
• Vulnerabilities, Exploits and Security Breaches
Other techniques talked about in the white paper besides Trojans that were used heavily included in the first half of the year included instant messaging worms and rogue AV software.
China and the Russian Federation have the negative distinction of being the predominant hosts for malware during the first ½ of 2010, at 31% and 22% respectively.
For Facebook® users, it was Koobface that wormed its way into the 500 million member community. Facebook Friends would find themselves receiving what looked to be a URL to a video page. Instead it would lead to an infected executable file.
Clickjacking was also a source of problems for the Facebook community as was deployment of adware via third-party rogue applications for Facebook®.
The US had its own negative claim to fame in the study. 28% of spam distribution by point of origin came from the US. China was distant second at 5%.
There are a few predictions for the latter half of this year.
• Botnet activity may increase
• Rogue software (particular AV) will trend upward
• Social networking sites such as Facebook will continue to be targeted
• In the Mobile OS world, threats will still be a rarity. However, Symbian, because of its 44% share, is the most likely target
The full report is available at http://www.bitdefender.com/files/News/file/H1_2010_E-Threats_Landscape_Report.pdf
Monday, July 12, 2010
OPSWAT Report on Worldwide Antivirus Application Market Share
On July 7, OPSWAT, Inc. published a report on “Worldwide Antivirus Application Market Share”. The results may not mesh completely with the results published by the vendors themselves (surprise!). The study period was January through May 2010. Note that these are antivirus deployments, not internet security suite deployments.
By product, the top 5 Windows antivirus deployments over the study period, by product were from los Free Amigos (Avast!, Avira, and AVG Technologies) and Microsoft.
• avast! Free Antivirus 11.45%
• Avira AntiVir Personal - Free Antivirus 9.19%
• AVG Anti-Virus Free 8.6%
• Microsoft Security Essentials 7.48%
• avast! Antivirus 5.4%
The order of the top 3 may be surprising to some people since on CNET’s download.com sight the typical weekly download order for the top three is AVG, followed by Avira and Avast. Download.com isn’t the only download site for these vendors.
The top 5 Windows antivirus market share leaders by vendor for the same period were
• AVAST Software 19.14%
• Avira GmbH 11.39%
• Symantec Corp. 10.06%
• Microsoft Corp. 9.29%
• AVG Technologies 9%
A more comprehensive listing can be viewed on the links below.
The vendor share reflects both paid and free AV, business and consumer. So the Symantec data includes both the Norton and Symantec AV brands. It does not include PC Tools, which they own. AVG Technologies drop in ranking from the product deployment table to the vendor deployment table relative to that of Avast! And Avira may signify that a much higher proportion of AVG’s installed base is their free software compared to the other two companies.
European vendors comprised 52% of the deployments, and North America 31%.
The press release for the above can be viewed at http://www.opswat.com/media/news/opswat-issues-groundbreaking-report-on-worldwide-antivirus-application-market-share
The complete report can be viewed at http://www.oesisok.com/news-resources/reports/worldwide-antivirus-market-share-report%202010
Both of these provide additional statistical details and methodology.
By product, the top 5 Windows antivirus deployments over the study period, by product were from los Free Amigos (Avast!, Avira, and AVG Technologies) and Microsoft.
• avast! Free Antivirus 11.45%
• Avira AntiVir Personal - Free Antivirus 9.19%
• AVG Anti-Virus Free 8.6%
• Microsoft Security Essentials 7.48%
• avast! Antivirus 5.4%
The order of the top 3 may be surprising to some people since on CNET’s download.com sight the typical weekly download order for the top three is AVG, followed by Avira and Avast. Download.com isn’t the only download site for these vendors.
The top 5 Windows antivirus market share leaders by vendor for the same period were
• AVAST Software 19.14%
• Avira GmbH 11.39%
• Symantec Corp. 10.06%
• Microsoft Corp. 9.29%
• AVG Technologies 9%
A more comprehensive listing can be viewed on the links below.
The vendor share reflects both paid and free AV, business and consumer. So the Symantec data includes both the Norton and Symantec AV brands. It does not include PC Tools, which they own. AVG Technologies drop in ranking from the product deployment table to the vendor deployment table relative to that of Avast! And Avira may signify that a much higher proportion of AVG’s installed base is their free software compared to the other two companies.
European vendors comprised 52% of the deployments, and North America 31%.
The press release for the above can be viewed at http://www.opswat.com/media/news/opswat-issues-groundbreaking-report-on-worldwide-antivirus-application-market-share
The complete report can be viewed at http://www.oesisok.com/news-resources/reports/worldwide-antivirus-market-share-report%202010
Both of these provide additional statistical details and methodology.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Viruses, Internet Security, the First Amendment, Eliott Spitzer, and Escort Services
The alternative headline was going to be “Who Pimped My Internet Security Product Testing?”, but common sense won out.
In 2002, then New York State Attorney General Eliott Spitzer won a case against Network Associates’ McAfee subsidiary regarding a “censorship clause” in some of the company’s Eula’s (End User Licensing Agreements). The clause stated that customers could not publish product reviews or results of benchmark tests without permission from the company.
New York State Supreme Court Justice Marilyn Shafer issued a ruling, prohibiting Network Associates/McAfee from trying to use end-user license agreements to ban product reviews or benchmark tests. http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-981228.html
Eliott Spitzer became governor of New York State 2007. He resigned in 2008 when his name became affiliated with an investigation being done on a high end escort service. It’d be a cheap shot to mention the v word here! Spitzer will be joining with Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper columnist Kathleen Parker on CNN this fall. Quite a trick on his part. From high end call girls to cable.
If an antivirus and internet security provider is willing to collect revenue from customers for its product, they should be willing to have the product tested, benchmarked, and/or reviewed without making the test organization jump through a lot of hoops or “hinting” that something may happen if the test group vary from what they say on the form. If a vendor is willing to allow customers to download its product for free, the same holds true.
One security vendor’s website and their EULA for testing and benchmarking states in part - “You agree that the testing/benchmarking results will only be used as specified by you in this form and for no other purpose whatsoever. …reserves the right to use its sole discretion in denying your request as a whole or in part.” The EULA requires information about the method and purpose of testing, among other details.
It’s all related to that First Amendment thing on the west side of the pond. Freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Vendors cannot be expected to be able to examine complete test plans in advance. Results could originally be posted on a web site, then appear in a print article, be written about in blogs, etc. This doesn’t waive the requirement that the testers utilize best practices. Vendors should not consider it their right to review results in their entirely before publication and then back out if they don’t like the test results or text of the article. Test organizations and reviewers should be willing to allow vendors to vet feature check lists and pricing if these are part of the article.
Vendors should be able to exert more influence over a test being performed when a product is in beta. If a new version of the product is going to be released before the article is published, discussions would have to take place. These issues with dates cannot be helped sometimes, due to release schedules, and publication deadlines. For example, it may be unfair to the vendor (and the customer), if a group review is published for example and an older version of the product is compared with competitors’ current releases. They can’t use the phrase “we’re in beta” ad nausea, though. When results are online, publications/reviewers should make the effort to footnote the article, should a new version be released.
In 2002, then New York State Attorney General Eliott Spitzer won a case against Network Associates’ McAfee subsidiary regarding a “censorship clause” in some of the company’s Eula’s (End User Licensing Agreements). The clause stated that customers could not publish product reviews or results of benchmark tests without permission from the company.
New York State Supreme Court Justice Marilyn Shafer issued a ruling, prohibiting Network Associates/McAfee from trying to use end-user license agreements to ban product reviews or benchmark tests. http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-981228.html
Eliott Spitzer became governor of New York State 2007. He resigned in 2008 when his name became affiliated with an investigation being done on a high end escort service. It’d be a cheap shot to mention the v word here! Spitzer will be joining with Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper columnist Kathleen Parker on CNN this fall. Quite a trick on his part. From high end call girls to cable.
If an antivirus and internet security provider is willing to collect revenue from customers for its product, they should be willing to have the product tested, benchmarked, and/or reviewed without making the test organization jump through a lot of hoops or “hinting” that something may happen if the test group vary from what they say on the form. If a vendor is willing to allow customers to download its product for free, the same holds true.
One security vendor’s website and their EULA for testing and benchmarking states in part - “You agree that the testing/benchmarking results will only be used as specified by you in this form and for no other purpose whatsoever. …reserves the right to use its sole discretion in denying your request as a whole or in part.” The EULA requires information about the method and purpose of testing, among other details.
It’s all related to that First Amendment thing on the west side of the pond. Freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Vendors cannot be expected to be able to examine complete test plans in advance. Results could originally be posted on a web site, then appear in a print article, be written about in blogs, etc. This doesn’t waive the requirement that the testers utilize best practices. Vendors should not consider it their right to review results in their entirely before publication and then back out if they don’t like the test results or text of the article. Test organizations and reviewers should be willing to allow vendors to vet feature check lists and pricing if these are part of the article.
Vendors should be able to exert more influence over a test being performed when a product is in beta. If a new version of the product is going to be released before the article is published, discussions would have to take place. These issues with dates cannot be helped sometimes, due to release schedules, and publication deadlines. For example, it may be unfair to the vendor (and the customer), if a group review is published for example and an older version of the product is compared with competitors’ current releases. They can’t use the phrase “we’re in beta” ad nausea, though. When results are online, publications/reviewers should make the effort to footnote the article, should a new version be released.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Virus Bulletin's Latest Reactive and Proactive (RAP)Test Results
Virus Bulletin has published their latest Reactive and Proactive (RAP) test results.
The RAP 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 new malware emerging every day across the world.
A fourth test set consists of malware samples first seen in the week after product submission. This test set gauges products' ability to detect new and unknown samples proactively, using heuristic and generic techniques.
The relative performance of vendors can best be viewed by looking at the RAP Averages Quadrant (December 2009 through June 2010) chart at http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/rap-index.xml.
Products/Companies with Reactive detection greater than 90% going from lower to higher on the y axis - AVG Technologies, Avira Free, Avira Pro, Kaspersky, ESET, Check Point, Coranti, and GDATA. The third company of los free amigos, AVAST, just missed 90%, it appears.
Products/Companies scoring over > 70% on the proactive portion going from lower to higher on the x axis were -Kaspersky, Ikarus, ESET, GDATA, Trustport, Coranti, and Check Point.
A full description of the RAP testing methodology and explanation of how to interpret the results can be read at http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/vb200902-RAP-tests
Virus Bulletin is perhaps best known for their VB100 Awards - The basic requirements for this award are that a product detects, both on demand and on access, in its default settings, all malware known to be 'In the Wild' at the time of the review. The product should generate no false positives when scanning a set of clean files. A list of vendors passing/failing the test is available on the Virus Bulletin site http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archive/results?display=summary. Viewing some (not all) of Virus Bulletin’s materials requires a free registration (well worth it). Full details require a paid subscription to the magazine (well worth it).
From a marketing/PR perspective, some vendors take it as a point of pride the number of consecutive times they’ve received a VB100 award. From an evaluation perspective for customers, most recent successes (perhaps 2 or 3 years) in the tests is the most useful. To view any particular companys’ history with VB100 testing, go to http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archive/results?display=summary
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. VB’s website is at www.virusbtn.com . The site is a great source of information on malware and spam. They are a member of the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization, www.AMTSO.org.
The RAP 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 new malware emerging every day across the world.
A fourth test set consists of malware samples first seen in the week after product submission. This test set gauges products' ability to detect new and unknown samples proactively, using heuristic and generic techniques.
The relative performance of vendors can best be viewed by looking at the RAP Averages Quadrant (December 2009 through June 2010) chart at http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/rap-index.xml.
Products/Companies with Reactive detection greater than 90% going from lower to higher on the y axis - AVG Technologies, Avira Free, Avira Pro, Kaspersky, ESET, Check Point, Coranti, and GDATA. The third company of los free amigos, AVAST, just missed 90%, it appears.
Products/Companies scoring over > 70% on the proactive portion going from lower to higher on the x axis were -Kaspersky, Ikarus, ESET, GDATA, Trustport, Coranti, and Check Point.
A full description of the RAP testing methodology and explanation of how to interpret the results can be read at http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/vb200902-RAP-tests
Virus Bulletin is perhaps best known for their VB100 Awards - The basic requirements for this award are that a product detects, both on demand and on access, in its default settings, all malware known to be 'In the Wild' at the time of the review. The product should generate no false positives when scanning a set of clean files. A list of vendors passing/failing the test is available on the Virus Bulletin site http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archive/results?display=summary. Viewing some (not all) of Virus Bulletin’s materials requires a free registration (well worth it). Full details require a paid subscription to the magazine (well worth it).
From a marketing/PR perspective, some vendors take it as a point of pride the number of consecutive times they’ve received a VB100 award. From an evaluation perspective for customers, most recent successes (perhaps 2 or 3 years) in the tests is the most useful. To view any particular companys’ history with VB100 testing, go to http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archive/results?display=summary
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. VB’s website is at www.virusbtn.com . The site is a great source of information on malware and spam. They are a member of the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization, www.AMTSO.org.
Monday, June 21, 2010
AVG LinkScanner for Mac Announced by AVG Technologies - 6/24 addendum
On June 14th, AVG announced AVG LinkScanner for Mac. Like AVG LinkScanner for Windows, it is a free download, designed to protect people in real time from malicious threats as they surf the web. Most of AVG’s security solutions also include AVG LinkScanner for Windows.
*****
June 24th addendum - http://download.cnet.com/mac/security-software/ CNET's top Mac security downloads for the week ending June 20th.
*****
AVG promotes the LinkScanner for Mac as providing real time protection while surfing the web. This should make it attractive to Mac users, even though the world has yet to see a massive virus outbreak among Mac users! AVG CTO Karel Obluk has an informative blog about how LinkScanner works at http://obluk.blog.avg.com/2009/10/index.html. The AVG LinkScanner demo on the LinkScanner download site inaccurately states that LinkScanner “looks at every single website.” That would take awhile!
There is no migration path to a traditional Antivirus or Internet Security suite solution for the Mac. AVG currently doesn’t offer these. Trend Micro, Symantec, McAfee, among others have Mac Antivirus and/or Internet Security solutions. A Mac offering may be in AVG’s future. However, neither Avira nor Avast (the other two of los Free Amigos) offer a Mac solution, either. Those desiring a free Mac AV solution can check out PC Tools iAntiVirus at http://www.iantivirus.com/
AVG LinkScanner for Mac had an impressive number of downloads during its first week of availability. Below are the number of downloads for the product and for other standalones that promote safe surfing. The below is for the week of June 13 and lists downloads, total downloads, and from which date. These figures are from download.cnet.com and reflect downloads of a particular version. It’ll be interesting to see how weekly downloads change over the next month.
AVG LinkScanner for Mac 2094/2094, 6/13/2010
AVG LinkScanner for Windows 504/73k, 11/04/2009
McAfee SiteAdvisor 660/25k, 12/23/2009 (free version)
Web of Trust (IE) 286/45k, 3/07/2010
Web of Trust (Firefox) 301/65k, 5/05/2010
Finjan, now part of M86 Security – offers Finjan SecureBrowsing™ as a free download (IE and Firefox) http://securebrowsing.finjan.com/. They promote this as scanning web pages in real-time, much like AVG LinkScanner.
Solutions that promote “real-time” and then mention accessing a database may be playing fast and free with the phrase “real-time”. People may want to watch for this.
*****
June 24th addendum - http://download.cnet.com/mac/security-software/ CNET's top Mac security downloads for the week ending June 20th.
*****
AVG promotes the LinkScanner for Mac as providing real time protection while surfing the web. This should make it attractive to Mac users, even though the world has yet to see a massive virus outbreak among Mac users! AVG CTO Karel Obluk has an informative blog about how LinkScanner works at http://obluk.blog.avg.com/2009/10/index.html. The AVG LinkScanner demo on the LinkScanner download site inaccurately states that LinkScanner “looks at every single website.” That would take awhile!
There is no migration path to a traditional Antivirus or Internet Security suite solution for the Mac. AVG currently doesn’t offer these. Trend Micro, Symantec, McAfee, among others have Mac Antivirus and/or Internet Security solutions. A Mac offering may be in AVG’s future. However, neither Avira nor Avast (the other two of los Free Amigos) offer a Mac solution, either. Those desiring a free Mac AV solution can check out PC Tools iAntiVirus at http://www.iantivirus.com/
AVG LinkScanner for Mac had an impressive number of downloads during its first week of availability. Below are the number of downloads for the product and for other standalones that promote safe surfing. The below is for the week of June 13 and lists downloads, total downloads, and from which date. These figures are from download.cnet.com and reflect downloads of a particular version. It’ll be interesting to see how weekly downloads change over the next month.
AVG LinkScanner for Mac 2094/2094, 6/13/2010
AVG LinkScanner for Windows 504/73k, 11/04/2009
McAfee SiteAdvisor 660/25k, 12/23/2009 (free version)
Web of Trust (IE) 286/45k, 3/07/2010
Web of Trust (Firefox) 301/65k, 5/05/2010
Finjan, now part of M86 Security – offers Finjan SecureBrowsing™ as a free download (IE and Firefox) http://securebrowsing.finjan.com/. They promote this as scanning web pages in real-time, much like AVG LinkScanner.
Solutions that promote “real-time” and then mention accessing a database may be playing fast and free with the phrase “real-time”. People may want to watch for this.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
AMTSO Releases Additional Documents on Malware Security Test Design and Testing
The Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization (www.amtso.org) recently released a pair of documents to assist the anti-malware testing and review community in test design and testing. Members of the AMTSO include both malware/internet security test groups as well as internet security providers such as Symantec, Panda, McAfee, and los free amigos, Avast, Avira, and AVG Technologies. The AMTSO currently has approximately 40 members.
These documents provide great guidelines (in a relatively brief format), for test organizations, publications doing testing, and individuals doing malware/internet security testing and reviews. Individuals and companies who use product reviews and round-ups to make a purchase decision can also benefit from these.
The “Performance Testing Guidelines” document is designed is to provide an overview of the issues involved in the accurate testing security technologies in terms of speed and resource usage.
Some of the closes to twenty factors for measurement discussed in the document include:
• File access time
• Memory usage
• CPU usage
• Network overhead
AMTSO stresses the need to run tests multiple times. Benchmarking a factor just once is inadequate. An average for multiple runs will minimizes the impact of anomalies and provides more accurate results.
The “Whole Product Testing” document discusses factors involved in designing and performing a complete security product test. This is versus isolating components of the product and performing a “Sum of the Parts” testing. They favor whole products tests, pointing out that product capabilities often work together to stop a given threat. This interaction cannot be shown through sum of the parts testing.
Factors they write about that need to be considered in designing and performing a test include:
• Stating the test purpose
• Selecting Samples
• Setting up Tests and Products
• Introducing Samples
• Handling User Interaction
• Capturing Test results
• Interpreting Test Results
While AMTSO designed these documents to assist the test community, the overall beneficiaries are home and business security users.
These documents provide great guidelines (in a relatively brief format), for test organizations, publications doing testing, and individuals doing malware/internet security testing and reviews. Individuals and companies who use product reviews and round-ups to make a purchase decision can also benefit from these.
The “Performance Testing Guidelines” document is designed is to provide an overview of the issues involved in the accurate testing security technologies in terms of speed and resource usage.
Some of the closes to twenty factors for measurement discussed in the document include:
• File access time
• Memory usage
• CPU usage
• Network overhead
AMTSO stresses the need to run tests multiple times. Benchmarking a factor just once is inadequate. An average for multiple runs will minimizes the impact of anomalies and provides more accurate results.
The “Whole Product Testing” document discusses factors involved in designing and performing a complete security product test. This is versus isolating components of the product and performing a “Sum of the Parts” testing. They favor whole products tests, pointing out that product capabilities often work together to stop a given threat. This interaction cannot be shown through sum of the parts testing.
Factors they write about that need to be considered in designing and performing a test include:
• Stating the test purpose
• Selecting Samples
• Setting up Tests and Products
• Introducing Samples
• Handling User Interaction
• Capturing Test results
• Interpreting Test Results
While AMTSO designed these documents to assist the test community, the overall beneficiaries are home and business security users.
Friday, June 11, 2010
AVG Technologies Acquires Walling Data Systems
On June 10, security company AVG Technologies announced the acquisition of Walling Data Systems, one of their leading channel partners. This is probably a great move on their part.
• It immediately strengthens their internal North America sales capabilities.
• It immediately strengthens their internal North America support capabilities.
Business/Education/Non-profits pay for their software. Increased revenue is a good thing, and as companies grow, they purchase more licenses! Many of AVG Technologies’ 110 million customers (number on their web site), use AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition. Some portion of these home users migrate to a solution they pay for. As a private company, the breakdown between business and non-business isn't readily available.
The www.antivirus.com website (Walling Data Systems) states that they are now “AVG for Education, Government, and non-profit”. You can’t tell from this whether they’ll be going after various business verticals outside these. Probably, yes. Government/education/non-profit typically requires or obtain a pricing differential. AVG already has a tiered licensing structure in place.
On the support side - home (paying) users will still have to rely on Email support, FAQ’s, and AVG’s Knowledge Base. They have option to pay for premium services, delivered through support.com.
When developing technologies, companies perform a make/buy decision. AVG’s CEO J.R. Smith has discussed this in a blog on AVG’s web site. Inorganic growth is sometimes the best decision. The same holds true for expanding your sales capabilities. It’s sometimes tactically and strategically more expeditious to purchase the channel expertise you need.
http://www.avg.com/us-en/press-releases-news.ndi-230728 to see the press release
• It immediately strengthens their internal North America sales capabilities.
• It immediately strengthens their internal North America support capabilities.
Business/Education/Non-profits pay for their software. Increased revenue is a good thing, and as companies grow, they purchase more licenses! Many of AVG Technologies’ 110 million customers (number on their web site), use AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition. Some portion of these home users migrate to a solution they pay for. As a private company, the breakdown between business and non-business isn't readily available.
The www.antivirus.com website (Walling Data Systems) states that they are now “AVG for Education, Government, and non-profit”. You can’t tell from this whether they’ll be going after various business verticals outside these. Probably, yes. Government/education/non-profit typically requires or obtain a pricing differential. AVG already has a tiered licensing structure in place.
On the support side - home (paying) users will still have to rely on Email support, FAQ’s, and AVG’s Knowledge Base. They have option to pay for premium services, delivered through support.com.
When developing technologies, companies perform a make/buy decision. AVG’s CEO J.R. Smith has discussed this in a blog on AVG’s web site. Inorganic growth is sometimes the best decision. The same holds true for expanding your sales capabilities. It’s sometimes tactically and strategically more expeditious to purchase the channel expertise you need.
http://www.avg.com/us-en/press-releases-news.ndi-230728 to see the press release
Thursday, June 10, 2010
AV Comparatives’ Latest Test Results For Anti-Virus Software (Proactive/Retrospective Test)
In May, testing organization AV Comparatives published their latest Proactive/Retrospective test report. This was for the on-demand detection of viruses/malware. This is one of several different tests they perform throughout the year.
Companies receiving “Advanced+ Certification” for their products – Trustport, G DATA, Kaspersky, Microsoft, AVIRA, ESET NOD32, F-Secure, BitDefender,and eScan.
For the proactive detection of new malware, the top ratings were achieved by
1. Trustport, Panda – 63%
2. G Data – 61%
3. Kaspersky, Microsoft – 59%
4. AVIRA – 53%
5. ESET, F-Secure- 52%
The order of the rest of the vendors in the above test – BitDefender, K7, ESET, Symantec (Norton), McAfee, AVG Technologies, Sophos, Avast, Norman, Trend Micro, PC Tools, and Kingsoft
All of the twenty anti-virus products tested were “paid” products with the exception of Avast! Free Anti-Virus 5.0. There was a mix of AV products for the home and business markets (some would say that having a mix like this doesn’t constitute “best practices, and that home should be compared against home, biz to biz, and free to free). Internet Security suites were not tested. The approximately 28k samples in the test were a mix of worms, backdoors, Trojans, and other malware and viruses.
The May (and November) retrospective tests evaluate products against new and unknown malware to measure the proactive detection capabilities (e.g. through heuristics, generic signatures, etc.). False positive rates are also factored into the evaluation. Products also use additional protection features like behavior blockers to protect against completely new/unknown malware.
AV Comparative’s test evaluates only the heuristic/generic detection of the products against unknown/new malware without the need to execute it.
People should go to the AV Comparatives website and download the complete report. http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/ondret/avc_report26.pdf .
AV Comparatives recommends that “you visit the vendor’s site and evaluate their software by downloading a trial version, as there are also many other features (e.g. firewall, HIPS, behavior blockers, etc.) and important things (e.g. price, graphical user interface, compatibility, etc.) for an Anti-Virus that you should evaluate by yourself. Even if quite important, the data provided in the test reports on this site are just some aspects that you should consider when buying Anti-Virus software.”
Note that there are other testing organizations as well. Individuals and companies evaluating AV and Internet Security SW should also look the others, at reviews, round-ups, and group tests performed by reputable testing organizations, and technology publications. Note carefully exactly what AV Comparatives tested.
Undoubtedly, companies will put their own spin on the test results.
Companies receiving “Advanced+ Certification” for their products – Trustport, G DATA, Kaspersky, Microsoft, AVIRA, ESET NOD32, F-Secure, BitDefender,and eScan.
For the proactive detection of new malware, the top ratings were achieved by
1. Trustport, Panda – 63%
2. G Data – 61%
3. Kaspersky, Microsoft – 59%
4. AVIRA – 53%
5. ESET, F-Secure- 52%
The order of the rest of the vendors in the above test – BitDefender, K7, ESET, Symantec (Norton), McAfee, AVG Technologies, Sophos, Avast, Norman, Trend Micro, PC Tools, and Kingsoft
All of the twenty anti-virus products tested were “paid” products with the exception of Avast! Free Anti-Virus 5.0. There was a mix of AV products for the home and business markets (some would say that having a mix like this doesn’t constitute “best practices, and that home should be compared against home, biz to biz, and free to free). Internet Security suites were not tested. The approximately 28k samples in the test were a mix of worms, backdoors, Trojans, and other malware and viruses.
The May (and November) retrospective tests evaluate products against new and unknown malware to measure the proactive detection capabilities (e.g. through heuristics, generic signatures, etc.). False positive rates are also factored into the evaluation. Products also use additional protection features like behavior blockers to protect against completely new/unknown malware.
AV Comparative’s test evaluates only the heuristic/generic detection of the products against unknown/new malware without the need to execute it.
People should go to the AV Comparatives website and download the complete report. http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/ondret/avc_report26.pdf .
AV Comparatives recommends that “you visit the vendor’s site and evaluate their software by downloading a trial version, as there are also many other features (e.g. firewall, HIPS, behavior blockers, etc.) and important things (e.g. price, graphical user interface, compatibility, etc.) for an Anti-Virus that you should evaluate by yourself. Even if quite important, the data provided in the test reports on this site are just some aspects that you should consider when buying Anti-Virus software.”
Note that there are other testing organizations as well. Individuals and companies evaluating AV and Internet Security SW should also look the others, at reviews, round-ups, and group tests performed by reputable testing organizations, and technology publications. Note carefully exactly what AV Comparatives tested.
Undoubtedly, companies will put their own spin on the test results.
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Power of the Panda - PC Cloud Anti-Virus 1.1 Receives PC Magazine Editor’s Choice Award
Panda Security’s free AV solution, PC Cloud Anti-Virus 1.1, received the PC Magazine Editor’s Choice Award in a review posted June 9. Neil Rubenking gave the product 4 stars (out of 5). The product is free for non-commercial use.
Neil Rubenking gave the product a generally positive review, finding the product “great” at keeping malware from installing on clean computers. He also liked the small download and simple interface.
One con he mentioned was that the product didn’t thoroughly remove what it did detect.
The Free (or is it Three?) “A”migos, Avira, Avast, and AVG Technologies, have some nice competition looking at them from the clouds.
Go to http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2364848,00.asp for the complete review.
Neil Rubenking gave the product a generally positive review, finding the product “great” at keeping malware from installing on clean computers. He also liked the small download and simple interface.
One con he mentioned was that the product didn’t thoroughly remove what it did detect.
The Free (or is it Three?) “A”migos, Avira, Avast, and AVG Technologies, have some nice competition looking at them from the clouds.
Go to http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2364848,00.asp for the complete review.
Monday, June 07, 2010
Security Reviews, Round-ups, and Relevance: Standards & Improved Reviews
Security vendors, from the 3 A’s (Alwil, Avira, AVG Technologies) to the big three in the US (Trend Micro, McAfee, and Symantec) prefer to have their security products perform well in reviews and round-ups. They provide 3rd party validation for their solutions. Security reviews and round-ups, along with tests from valid testing organizations, allow individuals and companies to make informed decisions. The nature of security risks are changing. The AMTSO recognizes this.
It’s worthwhile for reviewers and purchasers, both business and consumers to spend some time on websites such as the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization (www.amtso.org) About 40 security vendors and test organizations are members of this organization.
The group’s charter focuses on (from their home page)
1.Providing a forum for discussions related to the testing of anti-malware and related products.
2.Developing and publicizing objective standards and best practices for testing of anti-malware and related products.
3.Promoting education and awareness of issues related to the testing of anti-malware and related products.
4.Providing tools and resources to aid standards-based testing methodologies.
5.Providing analysis and review of current and future testing of anti-malware and related products.
Participants in AMTSO are not trying to shut down or discourage testing. They are trying to raise the standards of testing. They don’t certify any organization’s test. They encourage AMTSO members and others to publicly reference conformity to the guidelines they’ve been developing. Everyone benefits from this.
The AMTSO has a library of documents related to testing, standards, sampling, statistical validity, etc. It’s worthwhile for even the casual blogger or reviewer to look at some of these for guidelines. In particular, they should look at a 5 pager on “The Fundamental Principles of Testing”, http://www.amtso.org/documents.html . Reviewing documents that discuss sampling/sample sizes would also be valuable. All the documents are available to those who agree to the license terms.
It’s worthwhile for reviewers and purchasers, both business and consumers to spend some time on websites such as the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization (www.amtso.org) About 40 security vendors and test organizations are members of this organization.
The group’s charter focuses on (from their home page)
1.Providing a forum for discussions related to the testing of anti-malware and related products.
2.Developing and publicizing objective standards and best practices for testing of anti-malware and related products.
3.Promoting education and awareness of issues related to the testing of anti-malware and related products.
4.Providing tools and resources to aid standards-based testing methodologies.
5.Providing analysis and review of current and future testing of anti-malware and related products.
Participants in AMTSO are not trying to shut down or discourage testing. They are trying to raise the standards of testing. They don’t certify any organization’s test. They encourage AMTSO members and others to publicly reference conformity to the guidelines they’ve been developing. Everyone benefits from this.
The AMTSO has a library of documents related to testing, standards, sampling, statistical validity, etc. It’s worthwhile for even the casual blogger or reviewer to look at some of these for guidelines. In particular, they should look at a 5 pager on “The Fundamental Principles of Testing”, http://www.amtso.org/documents.html . Reviewing documents that discuss sampling/sample sizes would also be valuable. All the documents are available to those who agree to the license terms.
Thursday, June 03, 2010
Phishing or Phermentation – Santa Cruz Mountains Vintners Festival
On the weekends of June 5,6 and June 12,13, security employees working out of Symantec, McAfee, or Trend Micro corporate headquarters can forget about malware, spyware, and root kits for a couple of weekends. They have the opportunity to enjoy the Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers Association Vintners Festival. Approximately 50 wineries participate, with wineries open for tasting on the east side of the mountains the first weekend and on the west side the second. Some wineries group together in local restaurants for this event. Do cybercriminals go wine tasting? The world wonders. Something for amtso.org to discuss at their next meeting.
Wine tasting, barrel tasting, art, appetizers, music, sun, and more! This area is its own distinct appellation. A number of the wineries are open only during these two weekends and during Passport Weekends. http://www.scmwa.com/passport/wineries.htm
See the link below for more information. Tickets are $30 in advance or can be purchased at participating locations.
http://www.scmwa.com/VintnersFestival_000.htm
Avast or AVG Technologies employees can always visit the Moravia or Bohemia regions of the Czech Republic this weekend to sample wine. Or AVG employees can wait until September when Brno has Slavnosti Vina. Should someone meet a potential true love at the festival – Lednice is for lovers!
Wine tasting, barrel tasting, art, appetizers, music, sun, and more! This area is its own distinct appellation. A number of the wineries are open only during these two weekends and during Passport Weekends. http://www.scmwa.com/passport/wineries.htm
See the link below for more information. Tickets are $30 in advance or can be purchased at participating locations.
http://www.scmwa.com/VintnersFestival_000.htm
Avast or AVG Technologies employees can always visit the Moravia or Bohemia regions of the Czech Republic this weekend to sample wine. Or AVG employees can wait until September when Brno has Slavnosti Vina. Should someone meet a potential true love at the festival – Lednice is for lovers!
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