The AVAR 2022 Cybersecurity Counterpunch conference is taking place on 1st and 2nd December.

AV-Comparatives is supporting the AVAR security conference again this year, organised by the Association of Anti-Virus Researchers Asia. AVAR 2022 is the 25th edition of AVAR’s international conference, and the event is taking place on the 1st and 2nd of December 2022 in Singapore. Full details and the registration form can be found on the organisation’s website: https://aavar.org/cybersecurity-conference/

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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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Announcing a new cloud security validation lab in Austin, Texas.

AV-Comparatives, a global leader in endpoint security testing, is pleased to announce the extension of its testing portfolio in a new cloud security validation lab in Austin, Texas.

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Reported incidents of CEO-fraud or business email compromise (BEC) scams are so bizarre that most people think they are urban myths, told by security specialists to spice up their business and catch the attention of board-level executives. Sadly, these “April Fools’ Day” story lines have the opposite effect on C-level management. Let’s take a look at a recent € 19.2 million CEO-fraud case and put BEC-scams in a cyber-crime perspective to see whether you still think “it won’t happen to me”.

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In October, Google announced two contract changes for European Android device vendors. One concerned a minimum security-patch requirement, and the other involved charging a fee for Google services (e.g. Google Play Store). These announcements indicate that many Android smartphones suffer from significant security weaknesses.  Let us explain (and prove) why Google’s claims about the effectiveness of their Play Protect service are misleading, to say the least.

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The relationships between various countries in the world are worsening, not only with regard to economic and political issues, but also in the field of cybersecurity. The recent bans on Chinese (such as Huawei) and Russian security products (such as Kaspersky Lab) are examples of the troubled relations between politics and cyber security.

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Also this summer incidents were reported in general news media involving cyber- and ransomware-attacks on healthcare organizations. Cyber-attacks on healthcare organizations are not uncommon. According to CSO-online “the healthcare experiences twice the number of cyber-attacks as other Industries”.  We therefore ask why healthcare systems are under attack so often?

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False Positives (FPs, also known as False Alarms) are harmless and legitimate programs that are incorrectly identified as malicious by an antivirus program. A false positive can have very serious consequences. In some cases, it will not be possible to run a legitimate program if it is blocked by the security software.

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This question often arises on security-focussed internet forums. Why do antivirus solutions perform worse when tested by amateurs than when tested by professional testing organizations? It seems odd when hobbyist home testers publish tests on YouTube that seem to be a greater challenge to the AV programs than the comparative tests of professional organizations. Despite popular conspiracy theories, there is a logical explanation for these apparently contradictory test results.

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About one month ago we launched the redesign of your new AV-Comparatives website, which illustrates our expanding role as a global leader in IT security testing for consumer and enterprise users.

To make it easier to find what you want quickly, we have split the site into two areas, Consumer and Enterprise. Each area gives you easy access to the relevant test results, methodology and charts. In both areas, the charts and test results pages have been completely redesigned.

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