Choose your reviews carefully

Three reasons our security tests are the most trustworthy

This security report compares anti-malware products. Its job is to help you make informed buying decisions. We applied advanced testing techniques to ensure that the results are meaningful. The same cannot be said for many other tests. I’d say you’ve picked a good one to read, here. Let’s prove that.

Security report checklist

There are a few questions you should ask when you look at a security report. These are all very important but in random order here they are:

Is the test realistic?
Does the tester explain how they tested?
Does the tester explain how they make money
from the report?

There are all sorts of other little details to consider, which are often things security vendors get anxious about. These include technical details relating to the testing environment and the threats used to test the products. But ultimately, as a reader, you should care most about the list above.

Get Real

Realistic tests are good for a couple of reasons. Firstly, you want to know how security products handle real, current threats. Testing with vague simulations, future concepts or ancient and broken malware files doesn’t tell you how effective the product is in a practical sense.

The second reason might shock you. Some security vendors cheat in tests. They can sometimes detect when their products are being tested by certain test labs and either program or manually interfere to achieve different results. The more realistic the test, the harder it is for vendors to cheat.

There’s actually a third reason why realistic testing is useful. Vendors can use the results to help improve their products. Most vendors work with us because they see the value in fixing problems that we uncover.

At the end of this process, you buy better products and everyone wins (except the bad guys).

How We Test

Our test reports are packed with information about how we ran the tests. We know you’re probably not going to dig into all the detail in this report, but it’s there for two reasons. Some people want to see it, plus it’s reassuring that it’s there. If you have any questions, the answer is probably in the report. And if it’s not, please contact us and ask.

Show Me The Money

We don’t make money from affiliate links. If you buy any of the products in this report we don’t make a penny. And we don’t accept advertising. Our business is based on helping security vendors improve. This consultancy side to things brings in enough money to support the testing that we run, and allows us to publish reports like this for free.