Study conducted by Anti-virus early warning group places Sophos at the top in terms of providing the best defence against unknown malware.
IT security and control firm Sophos has been found to be superior to McAfee, Microsoft, Symantec and almost 30 other anti-malware products in proactively protecting against unknown malware attacks, according to data collected by Aviews, the Anti-Virus Information & Early Warning System.Aviews is an online community that shares information about breaking malware threats between anti-malware vendors, researchers, security experts, and system administrators. Over a four month period, Sophos detected and blocked more new unknown malware reported to the independent Aviews mailing list than any other vendor, proactively detecting and protecting against 80 percent, compared to 50 percent for Microsoft, 35 percent for Symantec and 30 percent for McAfee. Some anti-virus products failed to find any of the unknown malware during the four month testing period, leaving customers at considerable risk of infection. 'Most anti-virus reviews only examine products' ability to detect known malware, rather than determining which does the best job at proactively protecting against zero-day threats and unknown viruses. It's becoming more and more important to have an industrial strength defence against both known and unknown malware as hackers step up their attempts to steal money and identities with targeted attacks,' said Guy Edsall, product manager at Sophos. 'We're obviously delighted to find that we provide a higher level of protection against unknown malware than our competitors - but we won't be resting on our laurels, and customers can expect to see us continuing to work hard to enhance our detection of unknown threats even further.' Sophos recommends companies protect themselves with a consolidated solution which can control network access and proactively defend against the threats of spam, hackers, spyware and viruses. |
