Microsoft AVs not good enough, says AV-Test

AV-Test, the well-known independent organization that tests security software for home and corporate users, has released the results of the latest testing – and it’s bad news for Microsoft.

The Redmond giant’s Security Essentials 4.1 has failed to gain AV-Test’s certification for the second time in a row, and its Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010 is the only corporate solution of the eight that have been tested that similarly failed to pass the test.

Joe Blackbird, a program manager with Microsoft, commented the results in a post on Microsoft’s Malware Protection Center official blog by pointing out the well known fact that it’s “difficult for independent antimalware testing organizations to devise tests that are consistent with the real-world conditions that customers live in.”

He also noted that while AV-Test reports on samples hit or missed by category, Microsoft reports and prioritizes its work based on customer impact.

“Our review showed that 0.0033 percent of our Microsoft Security Essentials and Microsoft Forefront Endpoint Protection customers were impacted by malware samples not detected during the test. In addition, 94 percent of the malware samples not detected during the test didn’t impact our customers,” he wrote.

Still, they are committed to reducing it 0.0033 percent margin to zero, he says.