App Review F-Secure TOTAL 2024

[Jonny Quest]

The test results showcased in this post are less than optimal, revealing some weaknesses in Avira engine, specifically its weakness in memory scanning and disinfection. Effectiveness in memory scanning relies on precise malware characteristic extraction and detection, which is the area where the Avira engine is not good at.

Yes, I agree and was a little disappointed with the results. I do know there are better options out there, but in my daily routine, where would I have to go, what would I have to do with the precautions I already take, to get malware like that, which AV testers use in their reviews? I also understand it could be a matter of-time type of thing to eventually happen to me, but so far, as of today, I'm not thinking of making any changes...yet

 

[blackice]

Every time there’s an infection in one of these tests there’s people who start saying the sky is falling. It’s entirely possible for an average web surfer they’d never even see the threats that got through because the web protection caught it first. F-Secure still seems legit to me.

 

[Anthony Qian]

Every time there’s an infection in one of these tests there’s people who start saying the sky is falling. It’s entirely possible for an average web surfer they’d never even see the threats that got through because the web protection caught it first. F-Secure still seems legit to me.

No one is claiming F-Secure is not reliable or that its test results are poor in this thread. We’re just acknowledging that no AV product is perfect - they can’t catch all threats. So, while F-Secure does a great job protecting users from most threats, exploring ways it could potentially improve further is also meaningful, I think.

 

[comolokko]

Thank you for test.

 

[blackice]

No one is claiming F-Secure is not reliable or that its test results are poor in this thread. We’re just acknowledging that no AV product is perfect - they can’t catch all threats. So, while F-Secure does a great job protecting users from most threats, exploring ways it could potentially improve further is also meaningful, I think.

That’s a fair assessment.

 

[ShenguiTurmi]

AVG, Avast and Symantec/Broadcom/NortonLifeLock offer no SDKs for OEMs. The choice is between Kaspersky, Eset and Bitdefender with Eset not being able to supply engines for Mac products. To develop their own engines is possible, perhaps they can do an AI (static analysis one). If they want a full blown engine with emulators, fuzzy signatures and other modern parameters, that may be beyond their investment capabilities.

If they want to do it, they should have an easier time doing it than other manufacturers.
I recently uploaded a large number of virus samples to Triage and Anyrun due to sample collection (I run a sample sharing website of my own). Most of them were marked as black files by F-Secure's cloud within two hours after being uploaded (although it was just the simplest hash blacklist). This can be known by the fact that the virus name ends with !fsmind.
It shows that they have the ability to obtain a large number of virus samples. At this point, it will be much easier for them to make their own engine than other manufacturers who are only OEM without any own technology.

 

[likeastar20]

@Shadowra
`Overall, F-Secure put up a good fight thanks to DeepGuard .
In the end, the machine is certainly infected (the NetOptimiser launched malware via unresponsive PowerShell commands, as well as the presence of the AlteraAgent remote control software), but it can be disinfected without any problem.`

The NetOptimizer sample is interesting. From the VT report, I could see only one detection, which was classified as a PUP. Are you certain it's malicious?

 

[Shadowra]

@Shadowra
`Overall, F-Secure put up a good fight thanks to DeepGuard .
In the end, the machine is certainly infected (the NetOptimiser launched malware via unresponsive PowerShell commands, as well as the presence of the AlteraAgent remote control software), but it can be disinfected without any problem.`

The NetOptimizer sample is interesting. From the VT report, I could see only one detection, which was classified as a PUP. Are you certain it's malicious?

He was quite malicious

 

[Jonny Quest]

He was quite malicious

Lol..he was up to no good

 

[likeastar20]

He was quite malicious

Can you test that sample again on different AVs?

 

[Shadowra]

Can you test that sample again on different AVs?

If I can find it in my samples, yes