Security program manager challenges test results

Security Essentials, the anti-virus and anti-malware software supplied by Microsoft has failed in anti-virus certification tests. Out of 25 consumer antivirus programs tested by independent laboratory AV-Test in late 2012, only three failed to pass muster, with Microsoft Security Essentials 4.1 being joined by PC Tools Internet Security 2012 and AhnLab Internet Security 8.0.

The testing marks the second time in a row that Microsoft's own software failed to be certified. Results for the tests show that it performed below the industry average in 0-day malware attack protection, recently-created malware detection, and malware removal. It did score highly in terms of being able to remove what malware it detected, as well as being found to slow the computer down less than average compared to other services, and gave no false warnings or detections for potentially hazardous actions or programs.

In a company blog post, Microsoft Malware Protection Center program manager Joe Blackbird discussed the findings of AV-Test after condusting a "rigorous review of the results." It is claimed that "0.0033 percent of our Microsoft Security Essentials and Microsoft Forefront Endpoint Protection customers were impaced by malware samples not detected during the test," and that in December alone, the company processed 20 million new and potentially malicious files, adding protection that blocked 4 million deemed malicious.

By Electronista Staff

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industry, security, software, Microsoft, anti-virus, malware, Microsoft Security Essentials, Av-Test