Forwarded From: Simon Johnson <simon.johnsonat_private> http://www.theaustralian.com.au/techno/4001410.htm Virus protection doubts By GARTH MONTGOMERY The Australian 8sep98 VIRUS protection software is not as good as vendors claim, an independent study has found. Anti-virus companies responded to the Shake Communications study by saying their products never guarantee complete protection. The study, titled Comparison of Virus Scanning Programs, took 20 leading virus programs through more than 16,000 known viruses, including executable files, Word macro viruses, Excel macro viruses, Microsoft Access viruses, Lotus 123 viruses and Trojans and bait files. Shake found few anti-virus programs performed consistently across all categories. None offered 100 per cent detection of, nor protection against, the viruses. Shake used viruses from the Wild List – a voluntary organisation used by most vendors – the Internet, virus writers, and other public and private sources. Network Associates, maker of McAfee Virus Scan, demanded a retest with its latest code after being dissatisfied with the version Shake tested. But Shake technical director Simon Johnson said there was very little improvement when the latest McAfee engine was retested against the same viruses. All packages scored reasonably well in detecting executable viruses. Virus Scan ranked seventh with 92 per cent success. Virus Scan scored only 69 per cent against macro viruses for Word, Excel, Access and Lotus 123, with zero detection in the latter two programs. Network Associates did not return phone calls from The Australian. Symantec antivirus research centre regional director David Banes said Shake had done a good job. Norton Anti Virus scored third with 94 per cent detection of executable viruses, and fourth with 79 per cent detection of macro-viruses. "This is a very thorough study but it only measures virus-scanning," he said. "Other issues such as multilingual ability, global support and updates are very important in the purchasing decisions of multinational companies that need serious back-up." Mr Banes said Norton Anti Virus was backed-up by Symantec's ability to disassemble a virus sent in by a company, and build the new definition into the next product. "We have weekly updates sent to our users and generally a one-hour turnaround on technical support," he said. Cybec's Vet scored 14th with 72 per cent detection of executable viruses, and eighth with 74 per cent detection of macro viruses. -o- Subscribe: mail majordomoat_private with "subscribe isn". Today's ISN Sponsor: Repent Security Incorporated [www.repsec.com]
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Apr 13 2001 - 13:03:30 PDT