Is the anti-virus industry improving or just getting worse?
October 17th, 2006A analysis by Eugene Kaspersky, Head of Russian Kapersky Lab Virus Research, reveals some disturbing problems that are inherent in the antivirus industry. The greatest problem with antivirus software is that the majority of products available are unable even to guarantee up to 90% protection to users. According to Kapersky, many antivirus companies are unable to cope with the increasing numbers and varieties of malicious programs and are “losing this virus arms race“.
Kaspersky’s analysis was delivered on November 21 2005. Have things improved at all since then? Sadly no.
Malware-test.com tests the Malware Cleanup Success Rate for many major AntiMalware vendors. The results current as of August 26,2006 are as follows:
* Trend Micro Anti-Spyware: 71.17%
* Sunbelt CounterSpy: 68.47%
* Webroot Spy Sweeper: 65.77%
* ewido anti-spyware: 62.16%
* McAfee antispyware: 62.16%
* PC Tools Spyware Doctor: 59.46%
* Norton Internet Security: 54.05%
* Computer Associate Anti-Spyware: 49.55%
* BitDefender Internet Security: 48.65%
* Microsoft Windows Defender: 44.14%
* F-Secure Internet Security: 44.14%
* a-squared Anti-Malware: 43.24%
* SpywareTerminator: 41.44%
* ZeroSpyware: 41.44%
* Lavasoft Ad-Aware: 39.64%
* Panda Platinum Internet Security: 38.74%
* ZoneAlarm Anti-spyware: 38.74%
* Spybot S&D: 38.74%
* SUPERAntispyware: 36.94%
* Arovax AntiSpyware: 35.14%
* Ashampoo AntiSpyWare: 33.33%
* Kaspersky Internet Security: 32.43%
* NOD32: 30.63%
* Agnitum Outpost Firewall Pro: 22.52%
* Comodo AntiVirus: 18.02%
* Aluria Anti-Spyware: 9.00%
“The most popular brands of antivirus on the market have an 80 percent miss rate. So if you are running these pieces of software, eight out of 10 pieces of malicious code are going to get in,” claimed Graham Ingram, general manager of Australia’s Computer Emergency Response Team (AusCERT).