Shock: Some major anti-virus vendors fail VB100’s latest test

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Wednesday, 09 April 2008 18:07

Business IT - Security

Roberts of The 451 Group says that: “Certifications like VB100, which are based largely on static file analysis have gone a long way towards sustaining the signature based detection model when others might serve consumers and enterprises better”.

He continues that: “True, most companies already do blend behavior and signature based detection methods, but companies that rely heavily on the former (like BitDefender) tend to do worse on tests like the VB100. Does that mean BitDefender provides inferior protection to a company like, say KingSoft, which did receive the award? Hardly, but the lack of certification still becomes a hook on which to hang competitive claims. Bottom line: you get punished for not using signatures, even if that’s the right or most effective thing to do.”

Roberts then says: “However, as the malware problem has exploded in recent years, the problems with the industry’s narrow focus on signature matching became too obvious to ignore. At long last, changes are coming to VB and other testing organizations.”

Amongst many other noteworthy things Roberts says (which are worth reading), Roberts notes that: “In short, new testing methods will end the illusion of competence that current testing models perpetuate. They’ll also raise the bar on malware detection for established vendors, and may very possibly reshuffle the ranks within the antimalware business. Stay tuned!”

To see the full report, you need to become a paid subscriber of the Virus Bulletin VB100 service, but a simple listing of the winners and losers is available online for all to see after free registration.

Here’s the list of who passed and failed – see the VB100 site for more information .

AEC (Trustport Antivirus) – PASS
Agnitum Outpost Security Suite Pro – FAIL – 4 wildlist misses
AhnLab V3 – FAIL – 2 wildlist misses
Alwil avast! – FAIL – 19 wildlist misses, 1 false positive
AVG (Grisoft) - PASS
Avira AntiVir - PASS
BitDefender – FAIL – 2 wildlist misses
Bullguard – FAIL – 2 wildlist misses
CA eTrust Antivirus - PASS
CA Internet Security - PASS
Check Point Zone Alarm Internet Security Suite - PASS
Doctor Web – FAIL – 47 wildlist misses
Eset NOD32 Antivirus - PASS
Fortinet FortiClient - PASS
FRISK F-PROT Antivirus - PASS
F-Secure Client Security - PASS
GDATA Antivirus 2008 - PASS
Hauri ViRobot – FAIL – 3 wildlist misses
Ikarus Virus Utilities – FAIL – 24 wildlist misses, 6 false positives

For the rest of the list, please read onto page 3.