Matousec Proactive Security Challenge 64 (2013.1.18) - http://www.matousec.com/projects/proactive-security-challenge-64/results.php
Interpretation of results
The best product tested against the latest set of tests and the Proactive Security Challenge 64 leader is currently Comodo Internet Security Premium 6.0.260739.2674 with excellent 92% score. Privatefirewall 7.0.28.1 is second with very good 88% score, closely followed by Kaspersky Internet Security 2013 13.0.1.4190 and Outpost Security Suite Pro 7.5.2.3939.602.1809, both with 86 %. These are the only products that have been awarded with Proactive Security Challenge 64 awards. There are two products with the exactly same score on the fifth and the sixth place. These are Outpost Security Suite Free 7.1.1.3431.520.1248 and VirusBuster Internet Security Suite 4.1 with 71 %.
Proactive Security Challenge 64 makes a big difference between good products and the rest of the world. Most of the products are filtered in very low levels which means that they probably miss some critical features. There are plenty of products whose vendors claim that they can protect you against all kinds known and unknown threats. But in fact their products implement just a basic set of features that can prevent the most simple attacks only. If a malicious application uses more advanced approach to achieve its goal it is not blocked. This is very common in case of self-defense features, anti-leak protection, or system infection prevention.
Differences between quality of protection on the 64-bit platform (tested in Proactive Security Challenge 64) and the 32-bit platform (formerly tested in Proactive Security Challenge) are also very interesting. The nature of the 64-bit platform makes it uneasy for the products to protect against some of the advanced attacking techniques, but most of the techniques can be prevented by the very same mechanisms as on the 32-bit platform. This is why one would expect to see the 64-bit results of the products to be just slightly worse than the results on the 32-bit platform. This is not the case, however. The protection of many products is on a totally different level on the 64-bit platform, unfortunately much worse level.
Interpretation of results
The best product tested against the latest set of tests and the Proactive Security Challenge 64 leader is currently Comodo Internet Security Premium 6.0.260739.2674 with excellent 92% score. Privatefirewall 7.0.28.1 is second with very good 88% score, closely followed by Kaspersky Internet Security 2013 13.0.1.4190 and Outpost Security Suite Pro 7.5.2.3939.602.1809, both with 86 %. These are the only products that have been awarded with Proactive Security Challenge 64 awards. There are two products with the exactly same score on the fifth and the sixth place. These are Outpost Security Suite Free 7.1.1.3431.520.1248 and VirusBuster Internet Security Suite 4.1 with 71 %.
Proactive Security Challenge 64 makes a big difference between good products and the rest of the world. Most of the products are filtered in very low levels which means that they probably miss some critical features. There are plenty of products whose vendors claim that they can protect you against all kinds known and unknown threats. But in fact their products implement just a basic set of features that can prevent the most simple attacks only. If a malicious application uses more advanced approach to achieve its goal it is not blocked. This is very common in case of self-defense features, anti-leak protection, or system infection prevention.
Differences between quality of protection on the 64-bit platform (tested in Proactive Security Challenge 64) and the 32-bit platform (formerly tested in Proactive Security Challenge) are also very interesting. The nature of the 64-bit platform makes it uneasy for the products to protect against some of the advanced attacking techniques, but most of the techniques can be prevented by the very same mechanisms as on the 32-bit platform. This is why one would expect to see the 64-bit results of the products to be just slightly worse than the results on the 32-bit platform. This is not the case, however. The protection of many products is on a totally different level on the 64-bit platform, unfortunately much worse level.