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How can you choose the best security solution for a business or home, considering that user reviews can be sketchy or biased, and ads are always batting for some developer’s team? Fortunately, there’s also a reliable source of information in the shape of reputable labs that specialize in testing cybersecurity solutions. For one thing, they have the skills and experience necessary for an expert evaluation. For another, they are independent of the test participants. These labs regularly publish the results of their studies, and we’re here to help make sense of them.
Instead of a thousand words
There are many well-regarded test labs out there, each of which conducting dozens of studies every year. As a result, the amount of information available is considerable — enough to fairly drown the uninitiated. To make things easier, Kaspersky compiles its own annual summary of the tests carried out by AV-Test, AV-Comparatives, MRG Effitas, SE Labs and other major players. We cover both all-round and narrowly-focused studies — for example, how well different vendors’ solutions tackle ransomware or spyware.
Having compiled all the results, we bring them together in our TOP3 chart. This infographic rates security developers on three criteria simultaneously: (i) how actively they took part in tests (horizontal axis), (ii) how many times they made the Top 3 (vertical axis), and (iii) how many times they took first place (diameter of the respective circle).
Thus, the overall result is easy to discern: the bigger the circle with the vendor name, and the further to the right and higher it is — the better its products performed over the past year. In total, we participated in 75 independent tests in 2021; in 84% of them we placed in the top 3, and in 57 tests our products ranked first.
The bigger the circle, the more often the company’s solutions ranked first in independent tests
In 2021, Kaspersky solutions were among the Top 3 most tested antivirus and security products. Our solutions achieved more podium finishes than any other. Kaspersky protection also claimed the highest number of top spots. This means that most specialized test labs recognize the high performance of our solutions — both corporate and home.
Everything checked
Another reason why we ensure our products participate in as many tests as possible is because cyberthreats have become too diverse for one all-round study. Here are just some of the specialized tests our security solutions have passed.
Ransomware
During the tests, the participating antiviruses face several families of ransomware in both corporate and home setups. These tests can be quite absorbing — so much so that we dedicated a separate article to one of them.
Fileless
Fileless attacks, as their name suggests, do away with files on user devices and are therefore hard to detect. The tests evaluate not only success rate, but also the time it takes to detect fileless attacks.
Vulnerabilities and exploits
Cybercriminals use exploits to attack a system through vulnerabilities, so the tests assess the speed of detecting and eliminating them.
APT attacks
To reach an important target, cybercriminals sometimes conduct multi-stage attacks and create unique tools. In APT defense testing, researchers test solutions’ ability to detect and block unfamiliar and brand-new threats.
Phishing
During phishing testing, experts simulate the behavior of average online users and evaluate how promptly and effectively protection kicks in against data thieves.
Stalkerware
Stalkerware refers to semi-legal tracking apps that anyone can buy online. People often covertly install them on the device of a partner or spouse to monitor their location, read their contacts and messages, look through their photos and so on.
Because of their semi-legal status, stalkerware cannot formally be classified as malware. For this reason, some security developers prefer to turn a blind eye and not pay due attention to protection against this class of programs. But we disagree: we consider it important to protect our customers from tracking apps, and do our best to ensure that our products effectively detect stalkerware and warn the victims.
False positives
A good security solution not only eliminates threats, but also refrains from bothering the user over mere trifles. Don’t underestimate how important this is: if your antivirus constantly cries wolf, you’ll stop taking it seriously.
Also note that some security developers try to compensate for their less-than-perfect technologies by sounding the alarm at the slightest possibility of a threat. Therefore, the number of false positives is often a good indicator of the true quality of protection: the fewer, the better. As such, most independent tests typically list the number of false positives alongside threat detection capability.
Expert opinion
To recap, in 2021 Kaspersky products passed numerous tests with flying colors, and independent experts once again confirmed the company’s leadership in the security solutions market. Of course, we have no intention of resting on our laurels, and shall continue to develop our technologies to keep your devices fully protected against all threats. Safe online surfing!
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