VB100 certification report August 2019

Martijn Grooten

Virus Bulletin

Copyright © 2019 Virus Bulletin


 

Introduction

Since the inception of the VB100 certification scheme in 1998, both the threat landscape and the products tested by the scheme have evolved, but the VB100 award remains as relevant now as it was 21 years ago – providing a stamp of quality and competence for anti-malware products that satisfy a minimum standard of detecting malicious executables that have recently been seen in the wild, while blocking few to no legitimate programs.

This report details the VB100 certification of 37 anti‑malware products from 34 different vendors during July and August 2019.

 

The VB100 set-up

In the VB100 test, a copy of the product to be tested is installed on two platforms: Windows 10 and Windows 7. On each platform, and at three different times in the test, the product is asked to scan both the latest version of the WildList1 and a selection of clean files taken from Virus Bulletin's own set of files belonging to widely used legitimate software.

A legitimate file that is blocked at least once is considered a false positive, while a WildList file that isn't blocked is considered a miss.

A product achieves a VB100 certification if:

  • No more than 0.5% of WildList samples are missed

and

  • No more than 0.01% of legitimate files are blocked

For full details, we refer to the VB100 methodology on the Virus Bulletin website: https://www.virusbulletin.com/testing/vb100/vb100-methodology/vb100-methodology-ver1-1/. This test used version 1.1 of the VB100 methodology.

 

Diversity Test

The malware part of the VB100 certification uses the WildList, a regularly updated list of extremely well-vetted malware samples, guaranteed to have been spotted in the wild multiple times. This makes them very suitable for a certification test like VB100.

The 'Diversity Test' looks at products' detection of another set of recent malware samples, to acknowledge the fact that products detect malware samples beyond a standard set of samples, and provides a measure of that detection.

 

Products & results

Products were allowed to download updates during the course of the test. The version numbers listed in the results that follow refer to those at the start of the test.

 

Adaware Antivirus Free

Windows 7 version 12.6.1005.11662  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 12.6.1005.11662 
WildList detection 100.0% 
False positive rate 0.000% 
Diversity Test rate 99.69%

 

Adaware Antivirus Pro

Windows 7 version 12.6.1005.11662  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 12.6.1005.11662 
WildList detection 100.0% 
False positive rate 0.000%
Diversity Test rate 99.69%

 

Ad-Spider

Windows 7 version 2019.07.08-7.81300  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 2019.07.08-7.81300 
WildList detection 100.0% 
False positive rate 0.001% 
Diversity Test rate 99.69%

 

AhnLab V3 Internet Security 9.0

Windows 7 version 9.0.56.1  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 9.0.56.1 
WildList detection 100.0%
False positive rate 0.000%
Diversity Test rate 100.00%

 

Arcabit AntiVirus

Windows 7 version 2019.07.07  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 2019.07.03
WildList detection 100.0% 
False positive rate 0.000%
Diversity Test rate 99.79% 

 

Avast Free Antivirus

Windows 7 version 19.6.2383  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 19.6.2383 
WildList detection 100.0% 
False positive rate 0.000%
Diversity Test rate 100.00%

 

AVG Internet Security

Windows 7 version 19.6.3098  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 19.6.3098 
WildList detection 100.0% 
False positive rate 0.000%
Diversity Test rate 100.00% 

 

Cynet 360

Windows 7 version 8.3.54.60  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 8.3.54.58 
WildList detection 99.9% 
False positive rate 0.000% 
Diversity Test rate 100.00% 

 

Cyren Command Anti-Malware

Windows 7 version 5.2.1  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 5.2.1 
WildList detection 100.0%
False positive rate 0.008% 
Diversity Test rate 98.24% 

 

Defenx Security Suite

Windows 7 version 1.2.1.2  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 1.2.1.2 
WildList detection 100.0% 
False positive rate 0.000% 
Diversity Test rate 97.93% 

 

Emsisoft Anti-Malware

Windows 7 version 2019.6.0.9533  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 2019.6.0.9533 
WildList detection 100.0% 
False positive rate 0.000%
Diversity Test rate 100.00% 

 

eScan Internet Security Suite for Windows

Windows 7 version 14.0.1400.2029  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 14.0.1400.2029 
WildList detection 99.8% 
False positive rate 0.000%
Diversity Test rate 99.69% 

 

ESET Internet Security

Windows 7 version 12.1.34.0  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 12.1.34.0 
WildList detection 100.0% 
False positive rate 0.000%
Diversity Test rate 100.00% 

 

ESTsecurity ALYac

Windows 7 version 4.0.2.23116  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 4.0.2.23116 
WildList detection 100.0%
False positive rate 0.000%
Diversity Test rate 99.79% 

 

Exosphere Endpoint Protection

Windows 7 version 8.3.54.36  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 8.3.54.58 
WildList detection 99.8% 
False positive rate 0.000%
Diversity Test rate 99.69% 

 

Faronics Anti-Virus

Windows 7 version 4.20.3102.471  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 4.20.3102.471 
WildList detection 100.0% 
False positive rate 0.000%
Diversity Test rate 100.00% 

 

FireEye Endpoint Security

Windows 7 version 29.7.0  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 29.7.0 
WildList detection 100.0% 
False positive rate 0.000%
Diversity Test rate 99.79% 

 

Fortinet FortiClient

Windows 7 version 5.6.2.1117  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 5.6.2.1117 
WildList detection 100.0%
False positive rate 0.000% 
Diversity Test rate 100.00%

 

G DATA Antivirus

Windows 7 version 25.5.0.2  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 25.5.0.4
WildList detection 100.0% 
False positive rate 0.000%
Diversity Test rate 100.00%

 

Hammock AssetView

Windows 7 version 11.0.0.2202  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 11.0.0.2202 
WildList detection 100.0% 
False positive rate 0.000%
Diversity Test rate 100.00% 

 

Heimdal Thor Vigilance

Windows 7 version 2.5.201  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 2.5.201 
WildList detection 100.0% 
False positive rate 0.000%
Diversity Test rate 99.79% 

 

IKARUS anti.virus

Windows 7 version 2.19.14  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 2.19.14 
WildList detection 100.0% 
False positive rate 0.000%
Diversity Test rate 99.79% 

 

K7 Total Security

Windows 7 version 15.1.0362  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 15.1.0362 
WildList detection 100.0% 
False positive rate 0.000%
Diversity Test rate 99.79%

 

Kaspersky Endpoint Security 11 for Windows

Windows 7 version 11.1.0.15919  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 11.1.0.15919 
WildList detection 100.0% 
False positive rate 0.000%
Diversity Test rate 99.79%

 

NANO Antivirus

Windows 7 version 1.0.134.90395  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 1.0.134.90385 
WildList detection 100.0%
False positive rate 0.002%
Diversity Test rate 99.38% 

 

PCProtect

Windows 7 version 4.13.75  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 4.13.75 
WildList detection 100.0% 
False positive rate 0.000%
Diversity Test rate 99.79%

 

Rising Security Cloud Client

Windows 7 version 3.0.0.85  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 3.0.0.90 
WildList detection 100.0% 
False positive rate 0.004%
Diversity Test rate 84.25% 

 

Scanguard

Windows 7 version 4.13.75  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 4.13.75 
WildList detection 100.0% 
False positive rate 0.000%
Diversity Test rate 99.79%

 

TACHYON Endpoint Security

Windows 7 version 5.0.0.57  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 5.0.0.57 
WildList detection 99.9% 
False positive rate 0.002%
Diversity Test rate 99.90%

 

TeamViewer Endpoint Protection

Windows 7 version 1.2.188548  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 1.2.188548 
WildList detection 100.0% 
False positive rate 0.000%
Diversity Test rate 99.79% 

 

Tencent PC Manager

Windows 7 version 12.3.26607.901  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 12.3.26607.901 
WildList detection 100.0% 
False positive rate 0.000%
Diversity Test rate 99.90% 

 

TotalAV

Windows 7 version 4.13.75  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 4.13.75 
WildList detection 100.0% 
False positive rate 0.000%
Diversity Test rate 99.79% 

 

Total Defense Premium

Windows 7 version 11.5.0.222  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 11.5.0.222 
WildList detection 100.0% 
False positive rate 0.000%
Diversity Test rate 99.69%

 

Total Defense Unlimited

Windows 7 version 11.0.0.775  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 11.0.0.775 
WildList detection 100.0% 
False positive rate 0.000%
Diversity Test rate 99.69%

 

VIPRE Advanced Security

Windows 7 version 11.0.4.2  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 11.0.4.2 
WildList detection 100.0%
False positive rate 0.000% 
Diversity Test rate 99.90%

 

VirIT eXplorer PRO

Windows 7 version 8.9.65  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 8.9.65 
WildList detection 100.0% 
False positive rate 0.000%
Diversity Test rate 65.39%

 

Wontok SafeCentral Security Suite

Windows 7 version 2.0.1548  08-19.jpg
Windows 10 version 2.0.1548 
WildList detection 100.0% 
False positive rate 0.000%
Diversity Test rate 100.00%

 

Appendix 1: products not certified

All participating products achieved VB100 certification in this test.

 

Appendix 2: excluded parts

  • For eScan Internet Security Suite for Windows, the second certification part for Windows 10 was discarded due to technical issues.
  • For Fortinet FortiClient, the first certification part for Windows 7 was discarded due to technical issues.
  • For NANO Antivirus, the diversity test results for Windows 7 were discarded due to technical issues.

 

Appendix 3: sample set sizes

The WildList sample set contained 1,508 samples. The set of clean files used for the false positive test contained 99,997 files, of which 29,192 were portable executable (PE) files. The set used for the Diversity Test contained 965 samples.

 

Footnotes

1 The WildList is an extremely well-vetted set of malware recently observed in the wild by researchers: http://www.wildlist.org/.

Download PDF

twitter.png
fb.png
linkedin.png
hackernews.png
reddit.png

 

Latest reviews:

VBSpam comparative review

The Q1 2024 VBSpam test measured the performance of nine full email security solutions, one custom configured solution and one open‑source solution.

VBSpam comparative review

The Q4 2023 VBSpam test measured the performance of eight full email security solutions, one custom configured solution, one open-source solution and one blocklist.

VBSpam comparative review

In the Q3 2023 VBSpam test we measured the performance of eight full email security solutions, one custom configured solution, one open-source solution and one blocklist.

VBSpam comparative review

In the Q2 2023 VBSpam test we measured the performance of nine full email security solutions, one custom configured solution, one open-source solution and one blocklist.

VBSpam comparative review

In the Q1 2023 VBSpam test we measured the performance of eight full email security solutions, one custom configured solution, one open-source solution and one blocklist.

We have placed cookies on your device in order to improve the functionality of this site, as outlined in our cookies policy. However, you may delete and block all cookies from this site and your use of the site will be unaffected. By continuing to browse this site, you are agreeing to Virus Bulletin's use of data as outlined in our privacy policy.