PorkChopSandwiches
02-27-2013, 01:02 AM
Over the course of a year, Austrian testing lab AV-Comparatives puts antivirus and security suite products through a wide-ranging regimen of tests. The product that scores best overall in the year's tests earns the title "Product of the Year." Bitdefender took that honor this year, but the competition was tight.
Tests and Scoring
Nine significant tests from 2012 fed into the results for this year end summary. Two File Detection tests, roughly six months apart, measured a product's ability to detect current malware. A Proactive detection test evaluated zero-day malware blocking by forcing each product to use outdated malware definitions. Detecting active malware isn't sufficient; security products should also clean up the infestation. AV-Comparatives ran a Malware Removal test that specifically used samples detected by all tested products, checking how thoroughly each cleaned up malware traces.
Performance tests, run separately for each vendor's security suite and standalone antivirus, quantified the product's impact on system performance in a variety of ways. Researchers also included a test to measure the product's ability to steer users away from fraudulent (phishing) websites.
Possibly the most important, and definitely the most arduous test is the Whole Product Dynamic Test. Researchers run this test continuously and announce results periodically. Every day, researchers gather the very latest real-world threats and release them on identical test systems protected by different security products. The results of this test should closely match a product's effectiveness on an actual user's PC.
Per the report, all products tested are "security programs from reputable and reliable manufacturers," and most are expected to pass the tests, receiving a rating of at least STANDARD. Those that go beyond the basics but still have room for improvement receive an ADVANCED rating. Only the best products in a given test achieve the ADVANCED+ rating. The chart below summarizes this year's results.
http://i.imgur.com/D3chArF.jpg
The Winners
As you can see, both Kaspersky and Bitdefender rated ADVANCED in one test and ADVANCED+ in all of the others. The AV-Comparatives team follows this rule in the event of a tie: "if there are two or more products with equal marks, the award goes to the product which has not previously received it." Since Kaspersky took the award last year, Bitdefender is this year's winner.
Clearly Bitdefender is not the only product with excellent overall scores. AV-Comparatives identified several other "Top Rated" products: avast!, AVIRA, BullGuard, ESET, F-Secure, G DATA, and Kaspersky. Based on a scoring system assigning 15 points to ADVANCED+, 10 to ADVANCED, and 5 to STANDARD, each of these received at least 105 points. They didn't skip any tests, nor did they fail to achieve STANDARD in any tests.
Bitdefender is riding high this season, having just earned the top score in what AV-Test calls its Security Suite Endurance Test. In addition, Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2013 is one of our Editor's Choice winners for standalone antivirus. However, PCMag's other Editor's Choice products didn't shine in this particular collection of tests.
Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus 2013 is also an Editors' Choice, but it fared quite poorly in some of the AV-Comparatives tests. The report notes that "Webroot’s approach to protecting the user ... would require a different test procedure which is not applied by any testing lab so far." Webroot won't participate in AV-Comparatives tests for 2013, but will work with the lab on the feasibility of creating a compatible test in the future.
Norton AntiVirus (2013), our third antivirus Editors' Choice, is conspicuous by its absence. Symantec has issues with the test methodology in the main AV-Comparatives File Detection test and would have preferred to opt out. AV-Comparatives allows vendors to decline participation in some of its tests, but not that one, so Symantec declined to participate at all. That's unfortunate; I really would have liked to see how Norton Antivirus performed in the Whole Product Dynamic Test.
Much More Available
The 180-page full report (http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/docs/avc_sum_201212_en.pdf) also lists the best products in each testing category. In some cases, these aren't among the Top Rated, but they have particular strengths. It also includes a very detailed examination of every tested product's user interface and components, along with an analysis of outstanding features in the various products.
Tests and Scoring
Nine significant tests from 2012 fed into the results for this year end summary. Two File Detection tests, roughly six months apart, measured a product's ability to detect current malware. A Proactive detection test evaluated zero-day malware blocking by forcing each product to use outdated malware definitions. Detecting active malware isn't sufficient; security products should also clean up the infestation. AV-Comparatives ran a Malware Removal test that specifically used samples detected by all tested products, checking how thoroughly each cleaned up malware traces.
Performance tests, run separately for each vendor's security suite and standalone antivirus, quantified the product's impact on system performance in a variety of ways. Researchers also included a test to measure the product's ability to steer users away from fraudulent (phishing) websites.
Possibly the most important, and definitely the most arduous test is the Whole Product Dynamic Test. Researchers run this test continuously and announce results periodically. Every day, researchers gather the very latest real-world threats and release them on identical test systems protected by different security products. The results of this test should closely match a product's effectiveness on an actual user's PC.
Per the report, all products tested are "security programs from reputable and reliable manufacturers," and most are expected to pass the tests, receiving a rating of at least STANDARD. Those that go beyond the basics but still have room for improvement receive an ADVANCED rating. Only the best products in a given test achieve the ADVANCED+ rating. The chart below summarizes this year's results.
http://i.imgur.com/D3chArF.jpg
The Winners
As you can see, both Kaspersky and Bitdefender rated ADVANCED in one test and ADVANCED+ in all of the others. The AV-Comparatives team follows this rule in the event of a tie: "if there are two or more products with equal marks, the award goes to the product which has not previously received it." Since Kaspersky took the award last year, Bitdefender is this year's winner.
Clearly Bitdefender is not the only product with excellent overall scores. AV-Comparatives identified several other "Top Rated" products: avast!, AVIRA, BullGuard, ESET, F-Secure, G DATA, and Kaspersky. Based on a scoring system assigning 15 points to ADVANCED+, 10 to ADVANCED, and 5 to STANDARD, each of these received at least 105 points. They didn't skip any tests, nor did they fail to achieve STANDARD in any tests.
Bitdefender is riding high this season, having just earned the top score in what AV-Test calls its Security Suite Endurance Test. In addition, Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2013 is one of our Editor's Choice winners for standalone antivirus. However, PCMag's other Editor's Choice products didn't shine in this particular collection of tests.
Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus 2013 is also an Editors' Choice, but it fared quite poorly in some of the AV-Comparatives tests. The report notes that "Webroot’s approach to protecting the user ... would require a different test procedure which is not applied by any testing lab so far." Webroot won't participate in AV-Comparatives tests for 2013, but will work with the lab on the feasibility of creating a compatible test in the future.
Norton AntiVirus (2013), our third antivirus Editors' Choice, is conspicuous by its absence. Symantec has issues with the test methodology in the main AV-Comparatives File Detection test and would have preferred to opt out. AV-Comparatives allows vendors to decline participation in some of its tests, but not that one, so Symantec declined to participate at all. That's unfortunate; I really would have liked to see how Norton Antivirus performed in the Whole Product Dynamic Test.
Much More Available
The 180-page full report (http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/docs/avc_sum_201212_en.pdf) also lists the best products in each testing category. In some cases, these aren't among the Top Rated, but they have particular strengths. It also includes a very detailed examination of every tested product's user interface and components, along with an analysis of outstanding features in the various products.