Virus Bulletin tests 35 antiviruses, 11 fail, including Symantec

Virus Bulletin has released its August 2009 test results for Windows Vista SP2 Business. The company examined 35 anti-malware products and put them through their paces. In order to pass the basic requirements of the test, applications must detect all malware known to be "In the Wild" while not presenting any false positives. The products are tested in their default settings and must succeed in both on-demand and on-access detections.

Virus Bulletin threw the programs in a ring with around 3,000 unique samples of malware spread across four categories: Polymorphic viruses, Trojans, WildList viruses and Worms/bots. Of the 35 tested, only 23 passed, meaning about a third of the products fell to the tests. Among the more known solutions is Symantec's Endpoint Protection, which missed two infections on the Wildlist.

Symantec was quick to defend itself in response to Ars Technicia's original coverage of the Virus Bulletin tests. A company spokesperson said that "In the past ten years, Symantec has earned 44 consecutive VB100 awards, something no other vendor has come close to matching." They went on to add that the missed malware is an "extremely rare replicant of a highly polymorphic file infecting virus" and that they have since fixed the issue in their signatures.

You can check out the test in full on Virus Bulletin's website, although I believe you need a subscription. Ars Technica has created a condensed list of the results which you can view after the jump.

• Pass: AhnLab V3 Internet Security, Alwil avast! Professional, AVG Internet Security, Avira AntiVir Professional, CA eTrust ITM, eEye Blink Professional, ESET NOD32 Antivirus, Fortinet FortiClient, Frisk F-PROT antivirus, F-Secure Client Security, F-Secure PSB Workstation Security, G DATA AntiVirus 2010, Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2009, Kingsoft Internet Security 2009 Advanced, McAfee Total Security, McAfee VirusScan Enterprise, Microsoft Forefront Client Security, MWTI eScan Internet Security Suite, Nifty Corp. Security24, Norman Security Suite, Quick Heal AntiVirus Lite 2009, Sophos Anti-Virus, and Trustport Antivirus 2009.
• Fail: Agnitum Outpost Security Suite Pro (one false positive), CA Internet Security Suite (960 polymorphic viruses misses), Filseclab Twister AntiTrojanVirus (2612 wildlist misses, 38 false positives), Finport Simple Anti-Virus (2897 wildlist misses, two false positives), K7 Total Security Desktop (one false positive), Kingsoft Internet Security 2009 Standard (228 wildlist misses), PC Tools AntiVirus 2009 (1188 wildlist misses, one false positive), PC Tools Internet Security 2009 (1355 wildlist misses, one false positive), PC Tools Spyware Doctor (1355 wildlist misses, one false positive), Rising Internet Security 2009 (43 wildlist misses, one false positive), Symantec Endpoint Protection (two wildlist misses), and VirusBuster Professional (one false positive).