Anti-Phishing Test July 2013
| Release date | 2013-08-12 |
| Revision date | 2013-08-10 |
| Test Period | July 2013 |
| Number of Testcases | 187 |
| Online with cloud connectivity |  |
| Update allowed | |
| False Alarm Test included | |
| Platform/OS | Microsoft Windows |
| Methodology | Click here |
Introduction
What is Phishing?
Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing“Phishing is a way of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. This is similar to Fishing, where the fisherman puts a bait at the hook, thus, pretending to be a genuine food for fish. But the hook inside it takes the complete fish out of the lake. Communications purporting to be from popular social web sites, auction sites, online payment processors or IT administrators are commonly used to lure the unsuspecting public. Phishing is typically carried out by e-mail spoofing or instant messaging and it often directs users to enter details at a fake website whose look and feel are almost identical to the legitimate one. Phishing is an example of social engineering techniques used to deceive users, and exploits the poor usability of current web security technologies.”
For more information about how not to get hooked by a phishing scam, please have a look at e.g. http://www.onguardonline.gov/phishing (provided by the United States’ Homeland Security).
The tested product versions are the ones that were available at the time of testing (July 2013). Only those products were included whose vendors did not choose in advance to opt out of the Anti-Phishing Test.
Tested Products
ThreatTrack Vipre Internet Security 2013
Test Procedure
In our test scenario, we simulate the common situation where users rely on the anti-phishing protection provided by their security products while browsing the web (and/or checking their webmail accounts; anti-spam features are not considered, as they are not within the scope of this test). The test was done using Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit and Internet Explorer 11 (without its built-in phishing blocker, in order to get browser-independent results). All security products were tested with default settings and in parallel, at the same time and on the same URLs.
Testcases
The test took place on the 22th July. Phishing URLs were tested as soon as we discovered them. Phishing URLs were collected from the 17th to the 21st July 2013. All phishing URLs had to be active/online at time of testing and attempt to get personal infor-mation. After removing all invalid, offline and duplicate (sites hosted on same server/IP) test-cases, only 187 different, valid phishing URLs remained. The phishing campaigns targeted various types of personal data, including login credentials etc. for PayPal, online banking & credit cards, e-mail accounts, eBay, social networks, online games and other online services.
Ranking System
The awards are decided and given by the testers based on the observed test results (after consulting statistical models). The ranking system for this year’s Anti-Phishing Test is as follows:
| Zero Fps | ||||
| 1 to 2 FPs | ||||
| 3 to 4 FPs | ||||
| More than 4 FPs | ||||
Test Results
Below you can see the percentages of blocked phishing websites (size of test set: 245 phishing URLs).
| 1. | ESET, Kaspersky | 99.0% |
| 2. | Bitdefender, McAfee, Trend Micro | 98.0% |
| 3. | Fortinet | 97.0% |
| 4. | BullGuard | 96.0% |
| 5. | Panda, Sophos | 94.0% |
| 6. | Emsisoft | 89.0% |
| 7. | eScan | 88.0% |
| 8. | F-Secure | 87.0% |
| 9. | ThreatTrack | 86.0% |
| 10. | Avast | 82.0% |
| 11. | G DATA | 80.0% |
| 12. | Qihoo | 64.0% |
False Positive (False Alarm) Test Result
For the Anti-Phishing False-Alarm Test we selected 400 very popular banking sites (all of them using HTTPS and showing a login form) from all over the world, and checked if any of the various security products blocked these legitimate online banking sites. Wrongly blocking such sites is a serious mistake. Of the products tested this year, none had a false alarm on the tested 400 legitimate online banking sites.
Award levels reached in this Anti-Phishing Test
The following awards are for the results reached in this Anti-Phishing Test
Copyright and Disclaimer
This publication is Copyright © 2013 by AV-Comparatives ®. Any use of the results, etc. in whole or in part, is ONLY permitted after the explicit written agreement of the management board of AV-Comparatives prior to any publication. AV-Comparatives and its testers cannot be held liable for any damage or loss, which might occur as result of, or in connection with, the use of the information provided in this paper. We take every possible care to ensure the correctness of the basic data, but a liability for the correctness of the test results cannot be taken by any representative of AV-Comparatives. We do not give any guarantee of the correctness, completeness, or suitability for a specific purpose of any of the information/content provided at any given time. No one else involved in creating, producing or delivering test results shall be liable for any indirect, special or consequential damage, or loss of profits, arising out of, or related to, the use or inability to use, the services provided by the website, test documents or any related data.
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AV-Comparatives
(August 2013)