Take a good look at the results of any antivirus product protection quality test and you are unlikely to see a result of 100% in the test charts. Even the best antivirus solutions are sometimes unable to detect a malicious program the moment it enters a computer. This is hardly surprising, since in recent years the growth in the number of viruses and the speed with which they spread has resembled an avalanche.

But don’t panic – today’s antivirus programs have a variety of tools for combating malicious programs even in the event that they have made their way on to your computer. Keep in mind, though, that malicious programs are good at masking their presence on your system, making the antivirus program’s job even harder.

This is not the first time the Anti-Malware Test Lab has tested antivirus products for their ability to combat malicious programs in just this kind of situation, when they have already penetrated your computer and started their activity, while masking their presence on the system. Will antivirus solutions be able to detect and remove the malicious program without disrupting the system’s operation? This test will show how popular antivirus products cope with this difficult task.

• Methodology used in testing antiviruses for the treatment of active infections »
• Analysis of testing results and awards»

Testing results (October, 2008)

Key results of the testing of antivirus products for the treatment of active infections in HTML»

Complete results for each antivirus product are available only in PDF or Microsoft Excel format:

Complete testing results in PDF format »

Complete testing results in Microsoft Excel format »

Polymorphic malicious programs (also referred to hereafter as viruses) are capable of completely mutating with every new infection, generating multiple samples of themselves.

When scanning files on a computer using the traditional method, antivirus products search for specific traces of a virus – a signature. If the code of a virus that has been assigned a signature is modified, it will no longer be possible to detect it using that signature. A polymorphic virus is capable of performing such modifications to any of its parts.

As a rule, detecting polymorphic viruses makes use of a detection algorithm that is specially developed for each individual virus. The aim of this test is to assess the quality of the special algorithm function in various antivirus products.

Moreover, because polymorphic viruses are the most difficult viruses to detect, the ability to do so reflects the level of professionalism of an antivirus product’s developers. They not only have to analyze the complex variants of the viruses but also develop a reliable procedure and methodology to ensure 100% detection rates.

• Methodology used in testing of polymorphic virus detection »
• Composition of polymorphic virus samples for antivirus detection testing »
• Analysis of testing results and awards»

Latest test results (28/02/2008)

Award	Products
Download GIF image (500х500px)	Avira Antivir Personal Edition Classic 7.06 (31 out of 33 points) F-Secure Anti-Virus 2008 (31 out of 33) Kaspersky Anti-Virus 7.0 (31 out of 33)
Download GIF image (500х500px)	Avast Professional Edition 4.7 (25 out of 33) AVG Anti-Virus Professional Edition 7.5 (22 out of 33) DrWeb 4.44 (21 out of 33) ESET Nod32 Antivirus 3.0 (20 out of 33)
Download GIF image (500х500px)	Microsoft Windows Live OneCare 2.0 Pre-Release (19 out of 33) Trend Micro Antivirus plus Antispyware 2008 (18 out of 33) Symantec Anti-Virus 2008 (17 out of 33) BitDefender Anti-Virus 2008 (16 out of 33) Agnitum Outpost Security Suite Pro 2008 (15 out of 33) Sophos Anti-Virus 7.0 (14 out of 33) Panda Antivirus 2008 (14 out of 33) VBA32 Workstation 3.12.6 (14 out of 33)
Failed	McAfee VirusScan 2008 (11 out of 33)

 Key results from the testing of antivirus software for the detection of polymorphic viruse in HTML»

Complete results for each antivirus product are available only in HTML (click on the link above).

This post in my blog is the reaction to some rumors spreading across anti-virus industry. I must clarify this question for all antivirus vendors and our readers.

Rumors about affiliation with antivirus vendors
(e.g., Kaspersky Lab, Symantec or Avira)

As an individual, I have worked for Kaspersky Lab as an outside expert. I have also worked with a Russian partner of Symantec, whose name I cannot disclose under the terms of our agreement.

As regards independence, the work I did for these companies never overlapped with my Anti-Malware Test Lab work and was in the field of marketing research.

My work for these companies was in the area of market research and other marketing projects. For example, I prepared antivirus product functionality comparisons and did other market research for Kaspersky Lab, as well as some marketing audits. In the case of other companies, my work had to do with developing analysis and promotion concepts.

Sergey Ilyin is my official pseudonym

Publicity imposes certain constraints and can be a nuisance not only to public persons but also to those around them. With this in mind, when first developing the project I decided to use a pseudonym in order to protect my personal life from unnecessary pressure from players in Russia's antivirus market.

It has become increasingly popular for virus writers to make use of rootkit technologies. The reason for this is obvious – they make it possible to hide malicious programs and their components from PC users and antivirus programs. Numerous source codes for ready-made rootkits can be found on the Internet, which inevitably leads to their widespread use in various Trojans or spy programs (spyware/adware, keyloggers, etc.)

There are numerous specialized anti-rootkit products available for the detection and removal of these types of malicious programs. Furthermore, many antivirus developers state that their products include a function to detect active rootkits. 

The aim of this test is to evaluate the ability of the most popular antivirus and anti-rootkit products to detect and remove malicious programs (‘in-the-wild’ samples) that use rootkit technologies and actively circulate over the Internet, as well as checking proactive detection capabilities to detect proof-of-concept rootkits hidden on a system.

It should be noted that although testing of in-the-wild malware samples is of real practical use, there is also a great deal of research value in ascertaining the capabilities of proactive detection when combating the hidden threat of rootkits.

• Methodology used in this antivirus/anti-rootkit software testing »
• Selection of malware and proof-of-concept rootkits for this testing »
• Analysis of testing results and awards»

Summary of anti-rootkit testing results (24/01/2008)

Award	Products
Gold Anti-Rootkit Protection Award Download GIF image (500х500px)	Rootkit Unhooker 3.7 (7.5 out of 8 points) GMER 1.0 (7 out of 8) Kaspersky Anti-Virus 7.0 (6.5 out of 8) Avira Rootkit Detection 1.0 (6.5 out of 8)
Silver Anti-Rootkit Protection Award Download GIF image (500х500px)	AVG Anti-Rootkit 1.1 (5.5 out of 8) Panda AntiRootkit 1.08 (5.5 out of 8) Sophos Anti-Rootkit 1.3.1 (5.5 out of 8) Dr.Web 4.44 (5 out of 8) Trend Micro RootkitBuster 1. (5 out of 8)
Bronze Anti-Rootkit Protection Award Download GIF image (500х500px)	Symantec Anti-Virus 2008 (4.5 out of 8) F-Secure Anti-Virus 2008 (4 out of 8) McAfee Rootkit Detective 1.1 (3.5 out of 8)
Failed	BitDefender Antivirus 2008 (3 out of 8) McAfee VirusScan Plus 2008 (1.5 out of 8) ESET NOD32 Anti-Virus 3.0 (1 out of 8) Trend Micro Antivirus plus Antispyware 2008 (1 out of 8)

Key test results for detection and removal of rootkits by antivirus/anti-rootkit software in HTML»

Complete results for each antivirus product are available only in PDF or Microsoft Excel format:

Complite testing results in PDF format »

Rootkits description in PDF format »

Complete testing results in Microsoft Excel format »

The antivirus industry of today devotes much effort to preventing virus infections. Various proactive technologies are developed and tested, new threat response times decrease, and detection rates increase. At the same time, the rate at which new kinds of and modifications to malicious programs appear is also rapidly increasing. As a result, no antivirus vendor can guarantee 100% protection to users. Malware infections are still quite common, and very few Internet users have not dealt with a virus at least once.

To make matters worse, virus writers keep perfecting their software. Some malicious programs are very hard to remove from the computer, because they use various methods to mask their presence in the system (including via rootkits) and to avoid detection and removal by antivirus programs.

What can be done if a computer is infected? Will an existing antivirus product cope with the problem or will it be necessary to install a competitor’s product?

In this test, we analyzed the ability of popular antivirus programs to treat active infections -- that is, when a malicious program has been executed and installed on a computer and may be using various methods to prevent detection and removal by antivirus solutions.

Testing results (September, 2007)

Award	Products
Gold Malware Treatment Award Download GIF image (500х500px)	Dr.Web Anti-Virus 4.44 Beta (82%)
Silver Malware Treatment Award Download GIF image (500х500px)	Kaspersky Anti-Virus 7.0 (71%) Symantec Norton AntiVirus 2007 (71%)
Bronze Malware Treatment Award Download GIF image (500х500px)	Panda Antivirus 2008 (59%) Avast! Professional Edition 4.7.1029 (53%) AVG Anti-Virus 7.5 (47%)
Poor results	McAfee VirusScan 2007 (29%) Trend Micro Internet Security 2007 (29%) Avira AntiVir PE Premium 7.0 (24%) F-Secure Anti-Virus 2007 7.0 (18%) Eset NOD32 Antivirus 2.7 (18%) Sophos Anti-Virus 6.5 (18%) Dr.Web Anti-Virus 4.33 (12%) BitDefender Antivirus 10 (6%) VBA32 Antivirus 3.12 (6%)

Key results of the testing of antivirus products for the treatment of active infections in HTML»

Complete results for each antivirus product are available only in PDF or Microsoft Excel format:

Complete testing results in PDF format »

Complete testing results in Microsoft Excel format »