Which Antivirus has the best signatures?

In your opinion, who has the best signatures?

  • Avira

    Votes: 13 7.6%
  • Sophos

    Votes: 1 0.6%
  • Kaspersky

    Votes: 77 44.8%
  • BitDefender

    Votes: 19 11.0%
  • ESET

    Votes: 26 15.1%
  • Emsisoft

    Votes: 17 9.9%
  • Avast

    Votes: 7 4.1%
  • Reason Core

    Votes: 1 0.6%
  • Other (Specify)

    Votes: 11 6.4%

  • Total voters
    172

XhenEd

Level 28
Verified
Honorary Member
Top Poster
Content Creator
Well-known
Mar 1, 2014
1,708
I'll have to disagree with the statement "Detection is important but prevention is better.", Prevention alone does sometimes work, but it has a major drawbacks for some reasons, first it won't stop social engineering or a targeted attack, it also fails to address anything that goes beyond it, and this is where most attacks begin, prevention will not also stop most network attacks, as what has been happening lately with the different ransomeware, for example the WannaCry's used exploit was already known before the attack has taken place, still, many companies and organization got infected by it.
IMO, one can't just depend only "prevention" or stuff like "anti-exe", prevention alone as said is never enough alone, a balance of both detection and prevention is the ideal way, while still both will usually disappoint if you're being highly targeted, which in any case you're just doomed.
I think you disagree merely with the techniques used in prevention, not really on "prevention". :)

Prevention is prevention, meaning preventing something from even happening. So, taken as a whole, prevention would always stop "social engineering or a targeted attack," "network attacks," etc.. If something isn't prevented, that's because it's not prevented. :)

Prevention always works. But the techniques used in prevention may not always work. :)

Nevertheless, I agree with you. :D
 

Daljeet

Level 6
Verified
Well-known
Jun 14, 2017
264
From avira to reason core every one is giving their best ;). My vote goes to

LOGO_bitdefender_white_red.png
 

spaceoctopus

Level 16
Verified
Top Poster
Content Creator
Well-known
Jul 13, 2014
766
Lots of excellent products in the list above,except ReasonCore that i would not recommend for now. In terms of signatures, i think, ESET excels more than others. Wether it is in terms of Pups or malwares.
All that without neglecting the fact that signatures only are not enough for protection.
 

TheMalwareMaster

Level 21
Verified
Honorary Member
Top Poster
Well-known
Jan 4, 2016
1,022
Small explanation about Emsisoft Anti-malware signature dual-engines mechanism (Bit Defender + proprietary/homemade) :

We continuously check which threats are already detected by Bitdefender and disable all signatures in our own engine that were created to detect the same threats. As a result you of course will see 99% "(B)" detections when scanning large malware archives. That is because we focus on the tiny delta on top of Bitdefender (which does a quite good job).
Our own signatures mostly focus on brand new malwares and PUPs. Hours later Bitdefender then usually publishes the same signatures so we can disable ours again.

Also our Anti-Malware Network (Cloud) will complement our engines and the Web Filter will prevent you to access malicious websites.
I voted Kaspersky.
From my testing experience, Bitdefender signatures are not good against zero-day malware. (As reported by Umbra)
Bitdefender usually adds signatures regarding new malware hours later or one day later.
There is so much hype regarding Bitdefender signatures.

Avira still has good signatures, Avast has improved a lot too. About ESET: it had good signatures but it's going down. If something isn't detcted by signatures by ESET, it's really difficult it will be blocked
 

bribon77

Level 35
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Jul 6, 2017
2,392
I like to try, malware and I am always looking at Total Virus, and it is surprising, with the speed that Kasperky includes new malwares in their signatures .. almost always is the first. But do not forget Bitdefender and Eset are also fast
 

legendcampos

Level 6
Verified
Aug 22, 2014
286
I think Norton and MCafee have many signatures, since I was a teenager, Norton was already there fighting viruses
 

brod56

Level 15
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Feb 13, 2017
737
1- Emsisoft (Bitdefender+their own)
2- Kaspersky
3- Bitdefender (not the best anymore, but still very reliable option)

Signatures should not be your top priority when comparing security suites, though. Behaviour blocker and performance impact should be your main concerns.
 

Kuttz

Level 13
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
May 9, 2015
625
Wait.... @Umbra used to talk a lot about "lock down" anti-virus less configurations and he don't believe in anti virus software, now he himself an Emsisoft anti virus developer ?o_O When does this new development happened ? :LOL:
 
D

Deleted member 178

Wait.... @Umbra used to talk a lot about "lock down" anti-virus less configurations and he don't believe in anti virus software, now he himself an Emsisoft anti virus developer ?o_O When does this new development happened ? :LOL:
Some days ago :)

(i can't help Emsisoft's user without using the product, and i always loved Emsisoft Behavior Blocker )

btw, i still have my lockdown setup , just EAM replaced Windows Defender so its more locked than before :p
 

About us

  • MalwareTips is a community-driven platform providing the latest information and resources on malware and cyber threats. Our team of experienced professionals and passionate volunteers work to keep the internet safe and secure. We provide accurate, up-to-date information and strive to build a strong and supportive community dedicated to cybersecurity.

User Menu

Follow us

Follow us on Facebook or Twitter to know first about the latest cybersecurity incidents and malware threats.

Top