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19 Corporate Solutions Put to the Test under Windows
For their own future-proofing, companies ought to rely on a good protection solution. The laboratory of AV-TEST tested 19 endpoint solutions for safeguarding Windows clients in terms of protection, system load and false alarms. The findings revealed that the market offers good solutions that corporate users can depend on in the fight against malware attacks.
19 solutions put to the test under Windows 10
Even prior to the Corona pandemic, many corporate networks and office PCs were constantly under external fire. Studies show that the number of attacks by viruses, Trojans and other malware continues to increase. The core of a protection solution for corporate users is and remains protection of the endpoints. An appropriate solution, however, should not only provide good protection, but should also go easy on the resources of office PCs. After all, they are there to complete the company workflow and not only to fend off attacks. Add to this the fact that a solution for employees ought to work quietly in the background and not constantly interrupt office work with cryptic alarms. To get to the bottom of all these requirements, AV-TEST examined 19 solutions for corporate users in the categories of protection, performance and usability. The term usability encompasses all types of false alarms, false positives and erroneous messages.
19 corporate solutions tested in the lab
The security solutions for corporate users were examined in the lab from July to August 2021. Afterwards, all the final results were tabulated. In testing detection capability, the table indicates the individual findings for each month.
Included in the test were the corporate products of AhnLab, Avast, Bitdefender (in two versions), Check Point, Comodo, ESET, FireEye, F-Secure, G DATA, Kaspersky, Malwarebytes, McAfee, Microsoft, Seqrite, Sophos, Symantec, Trend Micro and VMware. All products can achieve a maximum of 6 points each in the three categories of protection, performance and usability. If a product achieves 17.5 points or receives the maximum 18 points in the end, in addition to a security certificate, it is also recognized as a TOP PRODUCT.
In this test, the lab awarded the special recognition to 17 of the 19 products examined. Only Malwarebytes and VMware did not manage to receive any recognition, but like all other participants, they earned the AV-TEST certificate for tested security.
In this test, the lab awarded 17 out of 19 products the additional accolade of TOP PRODUCT
10 out of the 19 solutions evaluated in the test throughout a two-month period were able to detect all the attackers 100 percent
Vast protection in fending off malware
The high art of any endpoint protection solution involves detecting and preventing malicious software. For this evaluation, the lab relies on a two-part test. In the first part, the products are required to thwart zero-day malware, which the testers have retrieved from e-mails and off the web shortly prior to the beginning of the test. Here, 300 samples of brand-new attackers are deployed in the so-called real-world test.
In the second test phase, a reference set from the laboratory is used. This constantly updated package consists of nearly 18,500 extremely dangerous malware samples. The difference compared to the first test phase: these attackers have already been active for up to 4 weeks on the web. Through this combined evaluation, the lab can identify which solution capably fends off not only the latest creations of attackers but also which manufacturer keeps its database of already known attackers up to date.
The detection rates of the solutions are excellent. The following 10 products always demonstrated consistent detection rates of 100 percent in all test phases: AhnLab, Bitdefender (with both versions), Comodo, G DATA, Kaspersky, Microsoft, Sophos, Symantec and Trend Micro. The solutions from Avast, Check Point, F-Secure, McAfee and VMware did commit minor errors in individual segments, but offered excellent protection overall. Thus, all of the 15 products mentioned received the full 6 points in the area of protection.
Only the solutions from ESET, FireEye, Seqrite and Malwarebytes committed a few more errors in individual places in terms of detection, yet still received 5.5 out of 6 possible points.
When protection becomes a burden
As already mentioned in the beginning, protection solutions for office PCs ensure that users and companies are well protected. At the same time, however, the protection is not allowed to hinder the work of office PCs by using up all the system resources. That is why the lab evaluates each individual solution in terms of its system load, in the category of performance.
For the evaluation of performance, the lab uses a high-end PC and an office PC as reference devices. A series of routine tasks are performed on both machines, such as launching websites, copying files, or installing and executing software. The time required for this then counts as the reference time for the comparison in the test. In a later step, the client of each product is installed, the same routine tasks are executed, the times are measured, thereby documenting the load behavior.
The points table shows how sparingly the corporate solutions manage resources. In this example, 12 of the 19 solutions evaluated received the full 6 points: AhnLab, Avast, Bitdefender (both versions), Check Point, ESET, FireEye, F-Secure, Kaspersky, Malwarebytes, Seqrite and Trend Micro.
A very slight system load was detected during routine tasks on the following 6 products: Comodo, G DATA, McAfee, Microsoft, Sophos and Symantec. For this, the lab made a slight point deduction: awarding 5.5 out of 6 points for all clients.Only the product from VMware caused an excessive load on the Windows client, according to the assessment of the testers. Launching applications, for example and copying data, were slowed down considerably. For this, the lab awarded only 3.5 out of 6 points.
The corporate solution completed all the tests with the highest score of 18 points
Thanks to glitchless performance in all test categories, the product concluded the test with the maximum score of 18 points
The product from F-Secure received 6 points in each of the three test areas and earned additional recognition as a TOP PRODUCT
For error-free detection and impeccable performance otherwise, the solution achieved the highest evaluation of 18 points
Both versions of the corporate solution from Bitdefender delivered convincing results in the test with perfect performance – achieving the top score twice
The corporate product from manufacturer Avast achieved the top score of 18 points, thus earning recognition as a TOP PRODUCT
Low stress level for in-house support
In the last test area dedicated to the category of usability, the lab evaluated the clients with respect to false alarms when visiting over 500 standard websites, as well as when scanning over 2.5 million program files and installing and using additional harmless software. Ultimately, each individual false alarm can lead to an increased workload for in-house support.
In this test category, the lab, however, issued a clean bill of health. 18 of the 19 security products evaluated committed no errors or only minor errors so that the lab awarded them the full 6 points for their achievements. Only Malwarebytes blocked one application too many, but still achieved 5.5 out of 6 points.
The result: 17 products earned the title of TOP PRODUCT
In this test, the laboratory examined 19 well-known protection solutions for corporate users and awarded a slew of good scores. 17 of the 19 products evaluated were so good that they reached 17.5 or even the maximum 18 points. In addition to a certificate for tested security, the laboratory additionally awarded TOP PRODUCT recognition to the products for this strong performance.
When it comes to premium protection solutions, it is of special interest to corporate users that the solutions not only provide good protection but also to do so without placing a major load on office PCs. In addition, the low false alarm rate of nearly all the products eases the workload for in-house support.
