Report: antivirus applications getting weaker over time

By David Chartier | Published: December 23, 2007 - 09:22PM CT
ARS Technica

The current state of software, security, and virus protection is a mixed bag. Amidst questions of Vista's security prowess over Windows XP, a new report set to be released by German computer magazine c't next month says the accuracy of antivirus software is waning. Particularly when it comes to detecting new, unfamiliar attacks, the 17 software packages tested dropped in average effectiveness by nearly 50 percent in 2007.

In the study, c't threw more than a million known viruses from the past six months into the mix. Avira Antivir and Gdata Antivirus 2008 topped the list by identifying over 99 percent of these viruses by their signatures, and Avast, AVG Anti Malware and BitDefender also achieved "very good results."

Yet many of these packages dropped the ball in an area increasingly regarded as more important: detecting and preventing new, never-before-seen viruses and malware. In early 2007, the packages averaged about 40-50 percent accuracy. In c't's most recent test at the end of the year, the average dropped to 20-30. At the positive end of that scale though, NOD32 and BitDefender are at the top of the new list with 68 and 41 percent accuracy, respectively.... More    Comment in the Forums