Peter Stelzhammer

Once again we tested security products for smartphones running Google's Android operating system. The report covers details of the products made by leading manufacturers. Smartphones represent the future of modern communications. In 2013, more than 1 billion smartphones were sold, a further milestone in the advance of these devices1. A study published by Facebook emphasises the importance of smartphones in our lives; about 80% of users make use of their smartphone within 15 minutes of waking up… Show more

Once again we tested security products for smartphones running Google's Android operating system. The report covers details of the products made by leading manufacturers. Smartphones represent the future of modern communications. In 2013, more than 1 billion smartphones were sold, a further milestone in the advance of these devices1. A study published by Facebook emphasises the importance of smartphones in our lives; about 80% of users make use of their smartphone within 15 minutes of waking up each day. At the same time, the traditional function of a telephone is becoming less and less important. The high quality of integrated cameras means that the smartphone is increasingly used for photography. As well as with photos, users trust their devices with their most personal communications, such as Facebook, WhatsApp and email. This brings some risks with it, as such usage makes the smartphone interesting for criminals, who attempt to infect the device with malware or steal personal data. There is also the danger brought by phishing attacks. These days, the use of security software on a PC or laptop is seen as essential. However, many smartphone users do not yet have the same sense of responsibility, even though their devices store personal data, private photos, Internet banking information or even company data. As modern smartphones are often expensive to buy, they are also an attractive target for thieves. Top-quality smartphones cost several hundred Euros. As it is not possible to physically prevent them from being stolen, they must be made less attractive to thieves. Consequently, many of today's security products contain not only malware protection, but also highly developed theft-protection functions, which make the device less attractive to thieves (e.g. by locking the device), and help the owner to find it again. Show less

The study analyzed the business model of two selected Chinese AV-vendors, Qihoo 360 and Baidu, from the perspective of their product development model, revenue model, marketing and distribution, and services and implementation. Furthermore, market research was conducted to compare the Chinese and Western users in order to investigate the influential factors on users' choice of security software. This study was initiated for the purpose of investigating the business model which supports Chinese… Show more

The study analyzed the business model of two selected Chinese AV-vendors, Qihoo 360 and Baidu, from the perspective of their product development model, revenue model, marketing and distribution, and services and implementation. Furthermore, market research was conducted to compare the Chinese and Western users in order to investigate the influential factors on users' choice of security software. This study was initiated for the purpose of investigating the business model which supports Chinese "free" AV-vendors to offer free fully-functional security software. Show less

Testing and comparing antivirus software necessitates the availability of malware samples. An efficient way to detect malware is the use of honeypots. There exist honeypots which passively wait for automated attacks in order to capture the malicious binaries. Other types of honeypots crawl the web, and, by being attacked, can identify malicious websites. The goal was to create an efficient, easily manageable and adaptable network of honeypots, distributed worldwide, which automatically collects… Show more

Testing and comparing antivirus software necessitates the availability of malware samples. An efficient way to detect malware is the use of honeypots. There exist honeypots which passively wait for automated attacks in order to capture the malicious binaries. Other types of honeypots crawl the web, and, by being attacked, can identify malicious websites. The goal was to create an efficient, easily manageable and adaptable network of honeypots, distributed worldwide, which automatically collects and handles malware from the web. For this purpose, existing honeypots were investigated and compared extensively. The findings were incorporated in the design of specialized, user-friendly honeynets, capable of automatically collecting malware samples and handling already known and unknown (zero-day) attacks. Additionally, an efficient sorting mechanism for large amounts of malware files was developed in order to create useful test sets. Show less

Most organizations are aware of the risks threatening their IT environment. Viruses, trojans, worms, exploits and many other threats represent a serious danger for the IT department. A collapse of the IT system could mean grave financial losses right up to insolvency for a company. The IT departments of companies are conscious of this problem. Getting the best protection against these threats is the only issue. A simple file antivirus solution alone is totally inade-quate, as there are too many… Show more

Most organizations are aware of the risks threatening their IT environment. Viruses, trojans, worms, exploits and many other threats represent a serious danger for the IT department. A collapse of the IT system could mean grave financial losses right up to insolvency for a company. The IT departments of companies are conscious of this problem. Getting the best protection against these threats is the only issue. A simple file antivirus solution alone is totally inade-quate, as there are too many threats from contaminated e-mails, exploits etc. What is re-quired is a comprehensive suite that provides protection against all of these. Functional Diversity Because of the immense functional diversity of various antivirus suites and corporate prod-ucts, it is becoming increasingly difficult for decision-makers in the IT sector to get a proper overview. Which product should one opt for and for which areas of protection? During these tests our main focus has not been on malware detection rates, but on the prod-ucts' handling and user-friendliness, and the scope of functionality. We have compiled the functional scope of various products in a detailed table. For malware detection rates of indi-vidual products please refer to the tests of our website: http://www.av-comparatives.org
Show less

Die Studie „Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) & Green-IT – Energieeffizienz und Kostenoptimierung“ befasst sich mit der Fragestellung, ob es für eine bestimmte Unternehmensgröße ökonomisch und/oder ökologisch effizienter ist in einem Zyklus von 3 Jahren auf einen Gesamtbetrachtungsrahmen von 9 Jahren die gesamte IT-Landschaft eines Unternehmens gegen ein energieeffizienteres Pendant auszutauschen oder die bestehende aufzurüsten.