Popular free antivirus apps for Android fail anti-malware tests
Summary: The latest comparative review of free antivirus applications for Android, courtesy of AV-Test.org, offers an interesting insight into just how effective or ineffective those applications really are.
Is free always better then paid, in respect to antivirus software, or does it basically offer a false feeling of security?
The latest comparative review of free antivirus applications for Android, courtesy of AV-Test.org, offers an interesting insight into just how effective or ineffective those applications really are.
The researchers tested the following free antivirus applications against 10 widely spread malicious apps.
- Antivirus Free
- BluePoint Antivirus Free
- GuardX Antivirus
- Kinetoo Malware Scan
- LabMSF Antivirus beta
- Privateer Lite
- Zoner AntiVirus Free
and two commercial antivirus apps offered by F-Secure Mobile Security and Kaspersky Mobile Security.
The findings?
The scanned test set contained 83 Android installation packages (APK) and 89 Dalvik binaries (DEX). No files were older than 5 months. The best results claimed the products of Kaspersky and F-Secure, which detected at least 50% of all malware samples already in inactive state. The best free app was Zoner AntiVirus Free with 32% detected malicious apps. All other scanners detected at best 10% of the apps, some didn’t detect anything at all.
BluePoint AntiVirus Free, Kinetoo Malware Scan and Privateer Lite still warned against one malicious app. Antivirus Free by Creative Apps, GuardX Antivirus and LabMSF Antivirus beta failed completely.
Was the test a complete overview of the market for free Android-based antivirus applications? Not at least according to MSNBC since it failed to include the following applications in the test - AVG Antivirus Free, BitDefender Mobile Security, Lookout Mobile Security, and Norton Mobile Security.
What do you think? Does free antivirus software offer a false feeling of security?
Talkback.
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Talkback
RE: Popular free antivirus apps for Android fail anti-malware tests
RE: Popular free antivirus apps for Android fail anti-malware tests
Really? Why?
Because it tells you that you're safe (Apple model)?
Or because it actually did something to protect you (what did it do/find)?
sdfsf
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Dear moderator
I agree. It seems that someone (or a few people)
don't want anything negative said about their company of choice, so they're flagged.
I like your idea
RE: Popular free antivirus apps for Android fail anti-malware tests
RE: Popular free antivirus apps for Android fail anti-malware tests
[i]If a comment which fully conforms to the ZDNet comment policy is flagged, the person that flagged the comment should be banned. Not the poster. [/i]
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Stay tuned.. we do have some new features in the works, which we are sure you will like :-)
- Tammy Cavadias
Community Manager
RE: Popular free antivirus apps for Android fail anti-malware tests
I look forward to seeing what the new features you mention might be. :)
As a programmer of Zoner AnTiVirus Free (if you believe me):
There have been apps on the Market that were malicious, that is a confirmed fact, so why do people tend to say that there is no threat on Android is beyond me.
Also Most AV software (not only Zoner, sure) provide more, like SMS/call blocking capabilities which also helps security.
And as for those 32%, we do not actually scan DEX files that are not installable, so those 32% are actually 64% of what we scanned - APK files.
RE: Popular free antivirus apps for Android fail anti-malware tests
RE: Popular free antivirus apps for Android fail anti-malware tests
RE: Popular free antivirus apps for Android fail anti-malware tests
Good point!
RE: Popular free antivirus apps for Android fail anti-malware tests
RE: Popular free antivirus apps for Android fail anti-malware tests
And please not social-engineering scams.
RE: Popular free antivirus apps for Android fail anti-malware tests
RE: Popular free antivirus apps for Android fail anti-malware tests
As for a smartphone, I'd probably give it an acronym: problem exists for someone holding a smartphone, or PEFSHS.
For a desktop, laptop, and a smartphone, I will only rely on antivirus as a last line of defense. I don't install mobile applications a lot lately; just applications that I will only need and that's about it. I wanted Sprint's WebCapTel in the LG Optimus V, but it requires Adobe AIR, which is incompatible with my smartphone. WebCapTel is an Internet-based captioned telephone service designed for the hearing impaired. You can hear them over the phone as well as read text as they speak to you. In that case, my smartphone gets rarely used unless I'm not at home.
RE: Popular free antivirus apps for Android fail anti-malware tests
RE: Popular free antivirus apps for Android fail anti-malware tests
I agree 100% If it isn't on this list...Is it OK? Both Lookout and ESET are well known brands and well as the others listed by MSNBC. Not certain how helpful this study is unless the intent was to just frighten Android users. Many will come from this believing there is nothing they can do. At least a list of the "Best" AV Apps could have been included. The first line of defense and I believe the best is an educated user base.
RE: Popular free antivirus apps for Android fail anti-malware tests
RE: Popular free antivirus apps for Android fail anti-malware tests