We have already heard about Windows 8 zero-day exploit on sale and malware faked as antivirus program. From these, it may seem that Windows 8 security will be equally unsatisfactory as same as its predecessors. But, tests by security firm BitDefender indicate otherwise.
According to the tests, with Windows Defender running, Windows 8 can detect 85% of the popular malware. The tests were run on a total of 385 malware, most detected by BitDefender Real-Time Virus Reporting System.
In a controlled test environment, among the 385 malware Windows 8 could not detect 63 threats – 61 of these threats successfully infected the system, one crashed on execution and one was blocked by User Account Control. In a separate test with Windows Defender shut off, out of the 385 malware, 234 ran successfully. The other 138 samples failed to start for various reasons.
The tests seemed to be part of a marketing campaign by BitDefender which launched its 2013 line of products earlier this week. The emphasis is marked by the comments from Bitdefender Chief Security Strategist Catalin Cosoi, “As a means of protecting a computer from viruses, data theft and other type of malware, Windows Defender is better than nothing. But it’s not a whole lot better. Most of the popular antivirus can do better. The conclusion is clear: Using your PC without a security solution is extremely risky.”
And, the motive behind the tests leave the skeptics believe that the numbers might be distorted. Especially the logic behind selecting 385 malware for tests, instead of the most popular 100 of 500, is not clear. Emil Protalinski, from TNW, thinks that a larger sample count might have given a different picture not favorable for Windows 8 or BitDefender.
Source: PRWire
