AV-Comparatives, a provider of independent comparative tests and reviews for antivirus products, has released the latest security software evaluation results of its Malware Protection Test for the month of March, and the factsheet for the Real-World Protection Test, carried out between February and March.

The Malware Protection Test report can be found here.

The Real-World Protection Test factsheet can be found here.

These tests examined the performance of leading antivirus solutions in order to assess their capabilities in conditions experienced every day by users around the world.

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Austrian IT-security testing lab AV-Comparatives has tested protection against the recently-emerged Hermetic Wiper malware.  

The data-wiping malware has been used in international targeted attacks. Its aim is not to steal money or data, but simply to make victims’ computers unusable. To do this, it abuses the services of a legitimate company that makes disk partitioning software. This type of utility can create, modify and delete the data storage areas (partitions) of a computer’s system disk. Hermetic Wiper makes (unauthorised) use of this useful utility program to corrupt the system disk’s boot information, meaning that the computer cannot start up. The malware then overwrites the partitions on the disk, making the data on them unreadable, even if the disk is transferred to an uninfected computer.  

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Life is often about multiplicity. The more the merrier. Two heads are better than one. Strength in numbers. You get the idea. But when it comes to antivirus, it’s more a case of too many cooks in the kitchen.

We often hear from users who assumed that installing multiple antivirus solutions on their computer would improve their chances of detecting any malicious files before they do any damage. However, while it is a good idea to have multiple complimentary security products in place if you take your security seriously, this doesn’t extend to multiple full antivirus solutions. Having several antivirus products in place won’t do much to improve your machine’s security – in fact it’s likely to cause you some serious problems.

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Mac or Windows? It feels like we’ve been debating over this for most part of the modern decade. Remember Apple’s “Get a Mac” campaign in 2006, where a personified Mac and Windows PC argued about who was the best operating system? Both companies have long been waging such marketing campaigns against each other to influence users.

It’s mostly down to personal preference, and we won’t weigh in. But one thing that does need to be taken out of the debate is cyber security.

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AV-Comparatives has released the results of its annual IT Security Survey. The results are a snapshot of the current state of the antivirus sector and reveal key facts such as the most popular solution and the popularity of additional features included in vendors’ products.

The security survey can be seen here. Download PDF here.

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INNSBRUCK, Austria, 20th January 2022 – The independent ISO-certified security testing lab AV-Comparatives has released the results of its Endpoint Prevention and Response Test (EPR).

The AV-Comparatives EPR test is the most comprehensive assessment of its kind in the world.

Each of the 10 products in the test were subjected to 50 separate targeted attack scenarios.

The top Strategic Leader Award was given to Bitdefender, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, CrowdStrike, F-Secure, Cisco and ESET. Broadcom was awarded with the CyberRisk Visionaries award. Two further vendors reached the Strong Challengers award.

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INNSBRUCK, Austria, 18th January 2022 – The independent ISO-certified security testing lab AV-Comparatives has named its antivirus Product of the Year.

During 2021, AV-Comparatives subjected 17 consumer security products for Windows to rigorous long-term testing.

All tested products received the test lab’s Approved Security Product Award. This is given to all products that demonstrated they can provide competent protection against a wide variety of threats, without unduly affecting the computer’s performance or raising too many false alarms. The award is a certification of an effective and reliable product. The tested products were: Avast, AVG, Avira, Bitdefender, ESET, G Data, K7, Kaspersky, Malwarebytes, McAfee, Microsoft, NortonLifeLock, Panda, TotalAV, Total Defense, Trend Micro, and VIPRE.

The antivirus solutions were tested for their ability to protect against real-world internet threats, identify malicious programs, defend against advanced targeted attacks, and provide protection without slowing down a PC.

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The second half-year report of AV-Comparatives’ 2021 Enterprise main-test series containing a Real-World Protection, Malware Protection and Performance Test has been released. Also product reviews are included. Please read the report for details. https://www.av-comparatives.org/tests/business-security-test-2021-august-november/

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In recent years, there have been many acquisitions of security software manufacturers. This article considers the implications of such takeovers, with regard to cybersecurity, consumer choice and other factors. AV-Comparatives notes that their test results can help uncover any technical changes resulting from AV-vendor acquisitions.

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