MRG Effitas releases latest Online Banking Browser Security report

[Viking]

Content source

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/News/401294,mrg-effitas-releases-latest-online-banking-browser-security-report.aspx

MRG Effitas releases latest Online Banking Browser Security report

by Mike Williams | Thursday 5 March 2015 | 0 Comments

And only four products pass!

Security research company MRG Effitas has released its Q4 2014 Online Banking Browser Security report, awarding certification to the top four products: Kaspersky Internet Security, Quarri POQ, Webroot SecureAnywhere and Zemana Antilogger.
MRG also tested security suites from 14 other vendors: avast!, AVG, Avira, Bitdefender, ESET, F-Secure, G Data, McAfee, Microsoft, Norton, Panda, Trend Micro, VIPRE and Wontok.
Every suite was put through three tests, covering detection rates, protection against live financial malware, and the ability to block even the very latest hacking techniques.
Kaspersky Internet Security 2015 was one of only four products to pass every test
Kaspersky, Quarri, Webroot, Wontok and Zemana were the only products to block all threats in the first test. The Botnet test delivered some surprise results – Microsoft Security Essentials passed in full, F-Secure Internet Security scored only 1/3 – and the final “Simulator” tests revealed alarming weaknesses, with 9 of the 18 test products failing to detect either of the hacking strategies employed.
Only the four certified applications passed all three tests. Suggesting why that might be, the report commented: “two were dedicated anti-financial fraud products (specifically Quarri POQ and Zemana Antilogger), and the other two… Kaspersky Internet Security and Webroot SecureAnywhere, actually harden the existing user’s browser with their SafeMoney (Kaspersky) and IdentityShield (Webroot) technologies”.
It’s certainly no great surprise that Kaspersky Internet Security and Webroot SecureAnywhere did well, as they’re often rated highly in independent testing. What’s more interesting is to see how some similarly well-regarded packages failed – Panda Internet Security were near the bottom of the detection rate table, F-Secure did poorly, even with its “banking protection” – and it’s worth taking a moment to see how your own favourite vendor performed.

 

[Tony Cole]

I'm really surprised Webroot did so well, I never knew they had finical/banking protection. I think, by far Kaspersky is the best in all fields, I certainly use their safe money technology to do online banking.

 

[illumination]

My only problem with these kind of reports, is that, your being told this product or that one has passed some sort of test, without any tangible proof of them doing so. Im not accustomed to blindly believing reports as such.

 

[Azure]

I'm really surprised Webroot did so well, I never knew they had finical/banking protection

Well, if you go to their website you can see they offer a

• Real-time anti-phishing protects your identity while browsing, shopping, and banking

"Protect what's most important: your identity.
Working silently in the background, the Identity Shield protects your passwords, credit card numbers, and other personal data against theft by keyloggers and other malware attacks. As you surf, shop, bank, or use social media, you can rest assured that your information is secure."

 

[Tony Cole]

Yes, I can see via the website they offer such protection, it's just I have tried Webroot on a laptop and would not trust their software to protect my online transactions - so no need to highlight/copy their info.

 

[hjlbx]

My only problem with these kind of reports, is that, your being told this product or that one has passed some sort of test, without any tangible proof of them doing so. Im not accustomed to blindly believing reports as such.

I agree with Illumination. I have noticed differences between what is reported by the labs and what actually occurs on my specific system. The differences can easily be accounted for by variations in system specs, user interactions, software, etc, etc.

Those tests should only be used as a guide as opposed to an absolute, definitive indicator of overall performance.

In regards to Quarri Protect-On-Q, it armors the browser via a remote sandboxed session. In other words, session cookies are not stored on the local system thereby protecting again Man-In-The-Middle attacks. Also, the user can select various security profiles that disable plug-ins, add-ons, add anti-keylogger, anti-data leaks, etc. The surf session has a timer so it is really meant to get-in and get-out of...primarily financial websites.

Quarri POQ is a commercial product.

Secure, web-hosted browsers are the wave of the future...and they'll probably be subscription-based. Just my opinion.

Just a FYI, secure web-hosted browser sessions have already been shown to be theoretically vulnerable to certain attacks. So it's really just a matter of time before a vulnerability is used to compromise the protections...as with most things IT...

For the time being at least it's pretty secure from what I understand.

 

[Tony Cole]

The only problem with the Quarri Armoured Browser, it is only available to enterprise companies, what about the everyday person who is vulnerable to ID theft and financial malware - malware that could easily wipe out your entire bank account?

 

[FleischmannTV]

IMHO just a test to generate marketing value for questionable features. If your system is malware free, you won't need it. If it's infected or you are a person who gets infected often, I wouldn't do financial transactions in such an environment anyway.

 

[woodrowbone]

I'm really surprised Webroot did so well, I never knew they had finical/banking protection. I think, by far Kaspersky is the best in all fields, I certainly use their safe money technology to do online banking.

MRG is the only testing organisation that tests Webroot in a proper way, in short: this is how good Webroot really is at protecting you.

/W