The Ultimate Endurance Test for Internet Security Suites
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27 Security Products Put to the Test The Ultimate Endurance Test for Internet Security Suites Over the past 22 months, all of the well-known won’t even notice such malware attacks because security suites available on the German market they simply bounce off the protective barrier have had to undergo laboratory tests and prove and are immediately isolated. Protection just how secure they really are. Germany’s programs usually only inform users that such largest test laboratory for anti-virus software, incidents have already been dealt with. AV-TEST GmbH, examined the market leaders In this report, we will tell you which Internet with regard to their security when used with security suite will provide you with the best Windows operating systems. protection and explain why this is the case. Markus Selinger While other tests in magazines or on online portals are only based on data recorded at a Nowadays, anyone who uses a Windows PC given moment in time, the test results presented online without any protection software can in this report were obtained from an endurance expect to be attacked by malware at any time. If test run on 27 security products by Germany’s you don’t believe this, you should take a look at the following figures: Over 95 million pieces Pieces of Malware Identified in the Last 10 Years: Over 95 Million of malware are currently active on the Internet and are joined by 100,000 new threats every day. The fact that a year contains around 31.5 million seconds means that you could capture three different pieces of malware every second and have still never found the same piece twice by the end of the year. If you use a good Internet security suite, however, you normally This document may be reprinted free of charge but the source must be stated and the AV-TEST GmbH logo must be displayed. 1 largest anti-virus test laboratory at AV-TEST Which program versions were tested? GmbH. In this endurance test, 17 security programs had to undergo up to ten tough The fact that the ultimate endurance test laboratory tests over a period of 22 months. was carried out between January 2011 and Another 10 products were also involved in the October 2012 meant that different versions endurance test but were either only recently of the well-known protection programs introduced to the test environment or have not were tested. yet completed many individual tests. These You can access and read about all of the products are therefore listed in a separate table individual tests on the AV-TEST GmbH later on in the report. website at www.av-test.org/en/tests/home- Only the best products are awarded the AV-TEST user. The product version tested is specified certificate for certified security and allowed to for each of these tests together with the display it on their product packaging or website. Windows test platform used, which varied between Windows XP and Windows 7. What was actually tested? Protection: This test category contains a number All of the protection programs were tested in the of different sub-categories, the most important of AV-TEST laboratory. An essential aspect of the which is the test against current online threats test was the fact that all products always had to from so-called 0-day malware. These threats be tested simultaneously. By doing so, we were concern malware that has only just been able to ensure that the status of all update files discovered and is therefore brand new. Around and similar factors was on the same timescale as 150,000 pieces of malware from the last two that of all of the other products being tested. months are also used to test the software against The test was also divided up into three the test laboratory’s reference set. On top of this, categories: they are also tested with the top dogs of the malware world: around 1500 to 5000 extremely • Protection widespread and malicious files. • Repair • Usability You can also read about the precise test procedure used in this category online at The test procedure in each of these categories www.av-test.org/en/test-procedures/test- was as follows: modules/protection. In the “Protection” category, the Internet security suite from Bitdefender was able to gain a very narrow victory over its rivals after undergoing 10 tests in 22 months. Its competitors are, however, just a hair’s breadth behind. This document may be reprinted free of charge but the source must be stated and the AV-TEST GmbH logo must be displayed. 2 Repair: Although this category was disregarded much that they ignore a genuine warning and for a long time, it is now one of the most expose their systems to malware. In the worst- important areas tested. After all, a completely case scenario, users may even have to deal with new and unique piece of malware (0-day a security program that slows down their malware) may well succeed in slipping through Windows system so much that they chose to even the best protection program available. If carry out a dangerous security program tuning this does occur but the malware is detected and measure that deactivates important protective removed shortly afterwards, the protection components. We examine all of these issues in a software needs to be able to repair any damage separate test in our laboratory. caused. Our tests in this category involved repeatedly infecting a system with a deactivated A detailed explanation of the test procedure protective function with a variety of different used in this category can also be found online at types of malware around 40 times before www.av-test.org/en/test-procedures/test- completely cleaning the system. We then modules/usability. compared the cleaned system with a clean system backup that had been made before the 27 Security Products Put to the Test test in order to find out whether any dangerous The market currently offers around 27 security remnants had been left behind. products that can be taken seriously. Some of You can also find a very detailed description of these are free, while others normally cost this test procedure at www.av-test.org/en/test- between 30 and 60 Euros for a package for up to procedures/test-modules/repair. three Windows PCs. Usability: Some users may consider this test 17 of these 27 security programs were category to be unimportant, but this is not the thoroughly examined in a total of 10 tests that case. After all, if, for example, a security suite took place between January 2011 and the final displays a message that its user is unable to test in October 2012. You can find a list of these understand but that requires the user to make a protection programs in the table of overall decision, this could have severe consequences. results on page 8 of this report. The table On top of this, a product that constantly includes a large number of well-known brands produces false positives may irritate users so such as Avira, Bitdefender, Kaspersky, Symantec, No subjective aspects like the appearance or design of the protection programs were evaluated in the "Usability" category. It can, however, be noted that all providers now use the signal colours of red, amber and green, with green signalling that everything is in order, amber indicating “please pay attention” and red warning of an alarm status. This document may be reprinted free of charge but the source must be stated and the AV-TEST GmbH logo must be displayed. 3 ESET or F-Secure, to name but a few providers of three products are listed alphabetically in the security products available for purchase. The table below. ultimate endurance test also examined the free Malware identification test 1: A large number of Security Essentials package available from other products from well-known brands also Microsoft and the free protection program achieved an excellent average points value in offered by Avast. The table below therefore also this category despite the fact that the test enables you to compare these products and requirements were a tough obstacle to decide whether a free protection program would overcome. All candidates initially had to suit your needs if necessary. withstand attacks by 0-day malware. Although The remaining 10 of the 27 products tested were this only involved a selection of around 70 to either not available on the market at the start of 100 pieces of malware, these were the newest the test or did not offer a version suitable for use and toughest threats around. While the top- in the test during the test period. These products placed programs managed to identify between are therefore compared in a separate table at the 98 and 100 percent of these threats, the Security end of the report, in which you can also see the Essentials from Microsoft allowed an number of tests that were carried out in order to obtain Endurance Test Results the results displayed, which varies between one to eight The Best Products in the “Protection” Category tests. The best software packages in the “Protection” category are those The Test Category of from the manufacturers Bitdefender, F-Secure and G Data, all of "Protection" which achieved 5.8 of the maximum of 6.0 points. These products are very closely followed by the security packages from BullGuard, In the major category of Kaspersky and Symantec with 5.7 or 5.6 points. These 6 protection programs were able to continuously achieve the best results in the “Protection”, tests were run on “Protection“ category in 10 tests run between January 2011 and 17 protection programs from October 2012 as part of the endurance test carried out by AV-TEST.