Kaspersky Passes Muster at AV-Test.org

AV-Test.org, the highly acclaimed German independent research center, has published results from its testing of Kaspersky Internet Security 2012. The antivirus software module produced excellent scores. In our review of antivirus software, we analyze Kaspersky Anti-Virus and compare it alongside BitDefender Antivirus and Webroot AntiVirus.

According AV-Test.org, Kaspersky Internet Security 2012 excels at detecting and blocking malicious software, and it can heal infected systems. The German testers also recorded that the Kaspersky antivirus software now scans almost 50 percent faster than the previous version, produces no false-negative detections and detects new threats with a 100-percent success rate.

AV-Test.org conducted the tests in conditions designed to reflect the real world using a set of malware no older than 90 days. The Kaspersky software ran on PCs with Windows XP (32-bit, Service Pack 3) and Windows 7 (32 and 64-bit version, with Service Pack 1). The testers ran the tests with the Kaspersky software set to its defaults with all protection systems activated. The software had full access to query the Kaspersky Security Network cloud-based security system and to update its antivirus database.

During the test to discover malware, Kaspersky security software found 99.4 percent of the more than 100,000 samples, which is slightly above the average level for the industry. The software detected the most dangerous menaces – so-called zero-day threats – with a 100-percent success rate after testing 1,752 samples.

When testers installed the Kaspersky software on a pre-infected personal computer, the software found and deleted all 23 malware programs on the test computer. When the testers installed rootkits and hid stealth malware, Kaspersky found and removed all but one of the 18 samples, for a success rate of 94.4 percent. The industry average, by way of comparison, is 44.4 percent. The industry average for preventing threats from websites and email is 80.5 percent. Kaspersky achieved 94.6 percent in that category. The software produced a 100-percent success rate on false negatives, which means that it scanned more than 300 legitimate applications and files but did not falsely label any as harmful.

When Kaspersky executives flew from their Moscow headquarters to brief TopTenREVIEWS, they were justifiably proud of the test results and touted the software's use of hybrid protection – the combination of the cloud-based Security Network working with heuristic technologies to detect behaviors typical of malware. The vendor was especially happy to inform us that AV-Test.org described its software as using fewer system resources than the competition uses, and that the scan speeds have increased by 90 percent compared with the previous version.

According to Nikolai Grebennikov, Kaspersky Lab's Chief Technology Officer, “The results of the independent testing show that Kaspersky Internet Security 2012 does excellently at both malware detection and treating infected systems. Our product effectively detects and neutralizes new, previously unknown, highly sophisticated and harmful threats – for example rootkits – all the while not permitting a single false negative.”

TopTenREVIEWS congratulates Kaspersky Lab on passing the harrowing AV-Test.org test suites. The vendor's customer base consisting of more than 300 million systems can continue to use Kaspersky Anti-Virus to protect their computers with confidence.

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