Leading Security Industry Researcher ranks Norman the best of the AV industry
AV-Test, the leading independent research house specializing in the IT security industry, just completed a comprehensive evaluation of the anti-virus market, this time placing special emphasis on so-called “proactive virus protection.” The study awarded Norman the highest mark among 23 competing vendors and singled out the company’s SandBox technology as the clear leader in the fight against computer viruses.
Over a five-month period, AV-Test exposed computers to 500 viruses unknown at the time of the study. Throughout the test period, SandBox detected and stopped an industry-leading 345 viruses, corresponding to a 69 per cent detection rate. This compares very favourably with competing vendors, which scored significantly below Norman, in part detecting as few as 20% of the new intruders.
Says Norman’s CEO, Henning Hansen: “We are obviously satisfied to see, once again, Norman’s world leading position in proactive virus detection officially confirmed. Our SandBox technology has identified most of the major virus attacks of the last year – hours, if not days before any of our competitors have been able to do so. The proactive detection feature has meant dramatically less attacks for Norman customers, while many users of competing products have sustained material damage to their systems.”
The test results were presented at the Virus Bulletin Conference in Chicago on September 31/October 1, 2004. It is the first comprehensive AV product evaluation focusing on proactive virus detection. Since the underlying analysis is not based on a single measurement, but comprises a series of tests over a period of several months, AV-Test’s study is undoubtedly the most thorough research undertaken in this area.
“The speed at which new computer viruses have spread has dramatically increased over the last two years, and viruses have become ever more advanced in avoiding scanning by traditional AV products. This places paramount importance on proactive detection, i.e. the ability to identify and deal with a threat when it first arises, rather than after a signature file was distributed which is too late for many organizations to escape infection. Clearly, SandBox has proven itself as the most effective proactive virus detection technology available today,” adds Hansen.
The tests conducted by AV-Test and Virus Bulletin are among the most recognized benchmarking events in the IT security industry and, based on the two organizations’ own information, constitute the only completely independent tests covering the anti-virus market. AV-Test collaborates with the Otto-von-G??ricke Institute at University of Magdeburg, Germany and is considered a worldwide expert on the anti-virus software market.