"One step forward, two steps back"

[Venustus]

Interesting read from Eugene Kaspersky!

http://eugene.kaspersky.com/2013/05/09/av-test-certification-devalued/

 

[jamescv7]

This is just clearly only, as some security companies realized on the conduction test caused one of the reason they will back out for it.

Truly, AV's are designed to protect and continuously used by more users around the world.

Its like, all schools have the same curriculum based and only depend by the students on how serious for his/her studies despite of quality education.

 

[ZeroDay]

Good read thanks for the share.

 

[Nomad]

I read the article but have to disagree. Mr. Kaspersky complains that the REPAIR test was discarded...I don't see why that is a problem. If I get infected, I am reinstalling the OS anyway.

He also complains about the USABILITY test only covering false positives. That is ideal, in my opinion, as aesthetics are too subjective. There is no reason for usability tests to talk about program layout...that is not the heart of a good AV.

 

[ZeroDay]

If I get infected, I am reinstalling the OS anyway.

One could argue that reinstalling the OS still isn't enough and only by performing a Zero fill can you be sure your clean, and even then what if somethings infected the bios. The list is endless.

 

[Nico@FMA]

I read the article but have to disagree. Mr. Kaspersky complains that the REPAIR test was discarded...I don't see why that is a problem. If I get infected, I am reinstalling the OS anyway.

He also complains about the USABILITY test only covering false positives. That is ideal, in my opinion, as aesthetics are too subjective. There is no reason for usability tests to talk about program layout...that is not the heart of a good AV.

As a security professional myself i have to agree with virtually everything Eugene Kaspersky said.
Testing is a very important part of the Security industry and should be based upon the highest standards and the latest technologies.

Detection, Prevention, Repair and Monitoring are just 4 very simple examples but they are also the very basis of any security configuration.
And just reinstalling your OS or totally clean wipe a system might be acceptable for a home user.
But for a million dollar company this costs so much money, time and effort.
And i do not even have to look very far for a example, because if i take my own job here as a example then i am (Together with a small team) responsible for more then a few hundred client PC's and a dozen of servers connected to over 20 networks. And all these computers are part of the national (North Netherlands) education system here in the Netherlands.
Not to mention the networks and pc's we have connected as external section of the education system just to store and process data.
Do you really think that reinstalling a OS is a option for us?
Or having a network go off-line due malware?
Or having to dig around to find the pest that penetrated out system?

O hell no


No instead the regional education and more importantly the national education board is spending a pretty penny in making sure that the system is modular, redundant and above all recoverable and operational regardless the issue at hand.
And to do so security and prevention/recovery/repair is a VERY big part of it.

So yes Kaspersky, Symantec, Mcafee, Sophos to name a few understand this very well and this is clearly being seen in their business and industrial security packages.
Again Eugene Kaspersky is so right.
With all do respect to some of the brands out there who would benefit from a much lower testing standard you have to realize that for the average home user these tests mean nothing, but for a business? It means everything.
Not to mention what testing does to the Industry itself.

Just saying.