Independent Testing by AV-Test Suggests Windows 8 Security Needs Extra Help

Woburn, MA –January 24, 2013 –Kaspersky Lab, a leading developer of security and threat management solutions, today announced the results of a comparative review of Kaspersky Internet Security 2013 and Windows 8’s built-in security components.  Conducted in December 2012 by independent antivirus research laboratory AV-Test, Kaspersky Lab’s home security product provided perfect results, blocking all URL and email attacks in the Real World testing scenario and detecting 99% of the malware samples. The results for Microsoft’s built-in solution were much lower: 11,9% of attacks were missed (5 attacks out of 42) in the Real World testing and only 90% of the malicious samples were detected during an on-demand scan.

Quick Facts

• In December 2012 AV-Test laboratory experts organized a comparative review of Kaspersky Internet Security 2013 and Windows 8’s built-in security components
• Four individual tests were performed: a real-world protection test, two static detection tests and a static false positive test
• Kaspersky Internet Security 2013 blocked all URL and email attacks, detected 99% of malware samples and didn’t return a single false positive
• Windows 8 security components failed to block 11.9% of attacks and managed to detect only 90% of malware samples. Like Kaspersky Internet Security, the Microsoft solution also returned no false positives

Test Results
Kaspersky Internet Security 2013 produced perfect results, blocking all 42 attacks, while Microsoft failed to block five attacks. Also, in the first static detection test the Kaspersky Lab product detected 99% of the samples, while Microsoft only managed to detect 90%. Neither product had any problems with the static tests for prevalent malware or false positives. Both of them detected all 2,500 prevalent malware samples and neither generated a single false positive detection when scanning the set of clean files. This proves that even products with very high detection and protection rates can operate without generating false positives.

The significant difference in the results for Kaspersky Internet Security 2013 and Windows 8 security components indicates that Windows Defender and related Microsoft security features only offer baseline protection. With 200,000 new malware samples appearing every day, users require a renowned home security solution that provides far better protection – Kaspersky Internet Security 2013.

How the Tests Were Performed
To perform the test runs, the AV-Test experts prepared a clean Windows 8 Pro image that was used on several identical PCs. The test systems were restored to a clean state before being exposed to each malware sample. Either the Kaspersky Lab security software or Windows Defender 4 solution was installed on these computers. Both products were run with their default, out-of-the-box configuration. The products had Internet access so they could use the cloud as part of their protection strategy, but malware could also use the cloud/Internet connection to reach other sites in order to download further files and infect the system. In this case care is taken to ensure that cloud access is available to the malware sample in a safe way, so that the test systems run no risk of infection.

Four individual tests were included in the AV-Test review:

• A real-world protection test of malicious URLs and emails with 42 samples
• First static detection test of 111,487 of the latest malicious files
• Second static detection test of 2,500 of the most prevalent files
• A static false positive test with 345,900 clean samples

In the case of the dynamic real-world test, URLs were accessed and the downloaded samples were executed. Any detection by the security software was noted. Additionally, the subsequent state of the system was compared with the original pre-test state in order to determine whether the attack was successfully blocked or not. In the static detection test, the products had to scan two sets of files in default settings. Detections were noted to determine the detection result.

QUOTE:
Nikita Shvetsov, Vice-President, Threat Research
Kaspersky Lab
“It’s obvious that the addition of extra antivirus tools in Windows 8 is a positive step towards enhancing the protection of this operating system. However, the recent AV-Test research shows that this alone is not enough to safeguard users against new, unknown malware which poses the greatest threat to contemporary computing. Truly high-level security is provided by Kaspersky Internet Security 2013, which is completely compatible with Microsoft Windows 8.”

About Kaspersky Lab
Kaspersky Lab is the world’s largest privately held vendor of endpoint protection solutions. The company is ranked among the world’s top four vendors of security solutions for endpoint users*. Throughout its 15-year history Kaspersky Lab has remained an innovator in IT security and provides effective digital security solutions for consumers, SMBs and Enterprises. The company currently operates in almost 200 countries and territories across the globe, providing protection for over 300 million users worldwide. Learn more at www.kaspersky.com.

*The company was rated fourth in the IDC rating Worldwide Endpoint Security Revenue by Vendor, 2010. The rating was published in the IDC report Worldwide IT Security Products 2011-2015 Forecast and 2010 Vendor Shares – December 2011. The report ranked software vendors according to earnings from sales of endpoint security solutions in 2010.

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