Certifications are usually quite expensive, therefore it could be that smaller vendors are not listed/tested by some certification bodies (even if they may be able to get the certifications). To get certifications is usually "easier" (due that you may see some product certified which usually score quite low in various anti-virus tests), as they focus usually mainly on well-known malware and viruses listed on the Wildlist. In some cases, they also allow to get re-tested (=there is no "fail" in the usual sense). In any case, certifications are important for vendors and users, so you should not ignore them, as they show which products are able to provide a given base level of security.
ICSALabs
Website:
www.icsalabs.com
ICSA Labs is the security industry's central anti-virus product testing and certification facility.
Certification criteria (here for Desktop/Server Anti-Virus detection):
- Detect viruses on-demand
- Detect and prevent the replication of viruses on-access
- Report no false positives
- Log the results of virus detection attempts
- Perform necessary administrative functions
The tests are performed with default settings. To get certified the product must (not matter if only e.g. after 2nd attempt) be able to detect 100% of viruses listed on the Wildlist and 90% of malware from the ICSALabs collection. To get certified for virus cleaning, a product must be additionally be able to disinfect all disinfectable viruses (some dozen) listed on the Wildlist).
I will update the tables below from time to time. For up-to-date and complete results, please visit the ICSALabs website.
Vendors certified for Anti-Virus cleaning (according to November 2007):
Authentium
Bitdefender
CA
IBM
Kaspersky
McAfee
Microsoft
Panda
Sophos
Symantec
TrendMicro
VirusBuster
Vendors certified for Anti-Virus detection (according to November 2007):
Avast
Authentium
Avira
AVG
Bitdefender
Bullguard
CA
Dr.Web
ESET
GDATA
IBM
Kaspersky
McAfee
Microsoft
Norman
Panda
PC Tools
Sophos
Symantec
TrendMicro
VirusBuster
Webroot
WestCoastLabs
Website:
www.westcoastlabs.com/checkmark/
Checkmark is the world's fastest growing certification system for information security products and services. It is a highly regarded accreditation program that provides End Users with confirmation of a product or service's effective functionality and performance.
The two most relevant certifications are probably (many more can be found on the Westcoastlabs website):
Anti-Virus disinfection: For a product to be accredited to the Checkmark Anti-Virus Disinfection certification, the product must be able to disinfect all files infected with those Viruses that are capable of being disinfected, which have appeared on the WildList in a 12 month period prior to the time of testing.
Anti-Virus desktop: For a product to be accredited to the Checkmark Anti-Virus Desktop certification, the
desktop product must be able to detect all those Viruses, Worms and BOTS currently 'in the wild', which are listed in the WildList current at the time of testing.
I will update the tables below from time to time. For up-to-date and complete results, please visit the Westcoastlabs website.
Vendors certified for Anti-Virus disinfection (according to November 2007):
Ahnlab
Authentium
Bitdefender
CA
CAT
CentralCommand
E-Frontier
ESET
Grisoft (AVG)
Hauri
Jiangmin
K7
Kaspersky
Kingsoft
McAfee
Microsoft
Norman
PC Tools
Panda
Rising
Sophos
Symantec
TrendMicro
VirusBuster
Webroot
Vendors certified for Anti-Virus detection (according to November 2007):
Ahnlab
Alwil (Avast)
Authentium
Bitdefender
CA
CAT
CentralCommand
Cybersoft
E-Frontier
ESET
GDATA
GFI
Grisoft (AVG)
Hauri
Iolo
Jiangmin
K7
Kaspersky
Kingsoft
McAfee
MicroWorld (eScan)
Microsoft
Netintelligence
PC Tools
Panda
Rising
Sophos
Symantec
TrendMicro
VirusBuster
Webroot
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