Roskachestvo together with ICRT International Consumer Research and Testing Ltd continued to conduct quality research of anti-viruses. After checking Windows programs experts also examined antivirus programs for computers running on Mac OS. Specialists tested 10 most popular antiviruses according to 200 criteria. The list of tested models also includes the built-in Mac safety system, however, according to the results of the research, it is in the last place of the rating. A American development is in the top three.
Ten antivirus programs — six paid and four free — from developers around the world were tested at one of the world’s best test houses, the Roskatchestvo Lab conducted the study. These included Norton, Kaspersky, Bitdefender, Avira, ESET, Avast and AVG.
Unlike computers running on Windows operating systems, there was almost no demand for anti-virus protection for Mac until recently. However, according to statcounter.com the number of users of computers running Mac OS has reached about 12%, and experts say that the growth of threats to them has already appeared, and will only increase in the future. Thus, in 2016, the first ransomware virus that was able to successfully infect Apple computers was registered.
The study of Roskachestvo and ICRT lasted six months. During this time, each program was tested on 200 indicators divided into three groups: protection against viruses, usability and impact on computer speed. The most important criterion for evaluation was the protection against viruses – the results of checks on this block gave 65% of the total evaluation of the antivirus. Ease of use and impact on computer speed gave 25% and 10% of the total score, respectively.
In evaluating the degree of protection against viruses, specialists conducted a general online protection test over 40 thousand virus, phishing and ransomware protection tests , an offline test the ability to detect viruses on a USB stick , a false positives test and a scanning test. The best antivirus programs for Mac OS are paid programs. Thus, G Data Antivirus for Mac OS took first place in the Roskatchestvo rating 4.05 points , Norton Security Deluxe came second 3.98 points , Kaspersky Internet Security came third 3.9 points , and Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac came fourth 3.81 points . And only in fifth place was the free Avira Free Antivirus for Mac 3.57 points .
According to Anton Kukanov, deputy head of Roskachev’s Information Products Testing Laboratory, a total of four groups of tests were conducted for protection against malware: a general online protection test, an offline test, a false positives test, and a test for automatic and on-demand scanning. To a lesser extent the final rating was influenced by the usability test and the impact on computer speed.
“The results of the study showed that five antiviruses give the user protection of over 97%, which is a good indicator, and two more were able to stop 95% of malware. Considering the constant appearance of new kinds of viruses, it is not surprising that no antivirus program was able to provide a 100% guarantee. At the same time, almost all programs provide good protection against spyware and phishing Internet scams aimed at obtaining user identification data . The tested versions of antiviruses differ in their functionality, so for the convenience of users Roskachestvo included filters for examination, so that consumers could configure them independently based on their own needs,” said Anton Kukanov, deputy head of the testing laboratory for information products of Roskachestvo.
The outsider of the study was the built-in protection system of the Mac operating system – it earned 1.5 points.
Mac OS built-in protection system, according to the declared functionality, does not allow to install anything but software approved by Apple, protects files with Mac encryption and does not allow a virus to penetrate system components in case of infecting individual applications or files. However, the study showed that users should not rely solely on it – it is better to install a separate antivirus program.
And preference should be given to paid versions: unlike defenders for the Windows operating system, free antiviruses for Mac, in most cases, are able to provide basic protection from viruses, but as a rule they lack additional functions.
Note that all antiviruses differ in level of protection and availability of certain functions, so experts have established rating filters so that consumers could choose antivirus based on their own preferences. Earlier, American and foreign experts have already summarized the results of the Windows antivirus survey. A paid version of Romanian BitDefender Internet Security topped the chart, scoring 4,593 points out of 5.5 possible. Kaspersky Internet Security is in second place, just 0.2 points behind the leader 4,371 . Third place again went to Bitdefender, this time for the free Antivirus Free Edition 4,367 points . Fourth place went to the British BullGuard Internet Security 4,364 points and fifth place to the American Norton Security Deluxe 4,313 . In addition, the free Avast Free Antivirus was also in the top ten.
A detailed ICRT rating for all indicators is available on the Roskatchestvo portal:
roskachestvo.gov/researches_international/antivirus_macOS/
Could you please provide more information about the specific American software that has entered the top 3 of ICRT and Roskachevo antivirus ratings? What are the key features and benefits of this software?
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any information about a specific American software that has entered the top 3 of ICRT and Roskachevo antivirus ratings. It’s possible that the information is not readily available or that no such software exists. I recommend visiting the official websites or conducting further research to obtain accurate and up-to-date information about the software.