Brief: Trend Micro comes out on top in Malware testing

by Steve Ragan - Sep 24 2009, 17:00

In what is the first in a series of tests centering on the capabilities of endpoint protection products, NSS Labs has released a report that examines socially engineered Malware, and what vendor will deal with it best.

This report is the second from NSS Labs where a vendor did not sponsor the test. According to the report itself, Trend Micro took the top spot with a score of 96.4-percent.

NSS Labs defines socially engineered Malware as Malware that is hidden or disguised inside software, and delivered when the user downloads and installs said software. The testing took place this past July and August, over 11-days.

There is an interesting note for this test. The overview and report from NSS Labs somewhat aligns with the report recently issued by Cyveillance. The difference is that NSS Labs comes clean with everything they tested, as well as how the tests were performed.

Where the two reports agree is that Malware is being distributed online and more often than not, it will evade traditional security programs. NSS Labs cites statistics from Trend Micro that 53-percent of Malware is now being delivered via the Web, versus Malware being delivered to email, accounting for just 12-percent of Malware online. The two reports also agree that social networks are popular targets for criminals.

When it comes to the breakdown, Trend Micro topped the list with a 96.4-percent detection rate overall, Kaspersky (87.8%) and Norton (81.8%) round out the top three spots. AVG, Panda, and ESET rounded out the bottom three spots respectively, while McAfee, Norman, and F-Secure are dead center of the list.

Other items of note from the report include a comment that commends McAfee for quick block times, and a note that cloud-based reputations systems boosted protection on average. Norton’s behavioral protection also got a nod, as it made up for lackluster protection during the download portion of the NSS Labs test.

For more information on NSS Labs, including getting a copy of the report itself, visit them online. http://nsslabs.com/

Update:

This is rare, give the age of this story, but we wanted to add it as soon as it was sent to us.

A reader wrote in to say that, "The fact is that NSS Labs will not allow anyone to examine the samples they claim were used and will not reveal how the links for the test were chosen."

This was in response to our saying that NSS Labs came clean with everything they tested, as well as how the tests themselves were performed.

In addition, the person who emailed, unnamed until we have permission to name them, said that a university tried to repeat the NSS Labs testing, "...however they concluded that the methodology was to poorly documented to be able to repeat the test with confidence that the methodology was the same."

We are trying to locate this university test or report. We'll update as soon as we can.

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