Security-software vendors whose products stood up to the cyber-threats of 2021 
have been rewarded by AV-Comparatives for their achievements. This year, due to 
Coronavirus restrictions, there was no actual awards ceremony. Nevertheless, a 
number of different vendors were given awards for their security products.

As in previous years, there were major awards for the best Windows security 
products in the Consumer Main Test Series. This subjects consumer security 
products to a number of demanding tests, covering different protection 
scenarios, false positives, and impact on system performance.

The "Product of the Year" award for the best overall results went to McAfee, 
showing that the product has improved over recent years.  Avast, AVG and 
Bitdefender also achieved exceptional results in the year's tests and were 
rewarded with "Outstanding Product" awards. Kaspersky was also honoured for its 
excellent results, receiving a "Top-Rated Product" award.

In 2021, as in the previous year, restrictions to stop the spread of the 
Coronavirus had a big impact on how people lived and worked. All over the 
world, millions of people continued to work from home. This meant that 
businesses needed to think about protecting not only their own devices, but 
also their employees' home computers. More Covid-19-related scams were used by 
cybercriminals to spread malware, and targeted attacks on enterprises and 
government networks continued too.

Amongst the products tested by AV-Comparatives in 2021 were: security programs 
for Windows consumer devices, macOS and Android; EPP (endpoint protection) and 
EPR (endpoint prevention and response) products for enterprise; anti-phishing 
and parental control products. Overall, AV-Comparatives performed more tests 
than ever before, so as to keep up with the cybercriminals.

AV-Comparatives' test methodologies are designed to provide rigorous tests that 
emulate real-life scenarios. A certification by the Austrian test lab is a 
guarantee of an effective and reliable product.

Both the Consumer and Enterprise Main Test Series consist of a number of 
different individual tests, which together provide an all-round assessment of 
the products' capabilities. These were: Real-World Protection Test (protection 
against Internet-borne malware); Malware Protection Test (protection against 
malware on the local area network or external device); Advanced Threat 
Protection Test (protection against targeted attacks); Performance Test (impact 
on system speed); False Positives Test (number of false alarms).

The following vendors (in alphabetical order) received awards for their 
products in AV-Comparatives' tests of 2021 – please click on the vendors' name 
to see details:

Acronis; Avast; AVG; Avira; Bitdefender; Broadcom; Check Point; Cisco; 
CrowdStrike; Cybereason; Elastic; ESET; F-Secure; FireEye; Fortinet; G Data; 
K7; Kaspersky; McAfee; Malwarebytes; Microsoft; NortonLifeLock; Palo Alto 
Networks; Panda; Sophos; TotalAV; Total Defense; Trend Micro; VIPRE; VMware.

Andreas Clementi, ceo and co-founder, AV-Comparatives: "Especially in unstable 
times, IT security is more important than ever. We are pleased that the tested 
products offer good protection!"

Contact: Peter Stelzhammer, media@av-comparatives.org, +43 720115542 

SOURCE: AV-Comparatives