Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org Mac Security Review Mac Security Review Language: English July 2013 Last revision: 19th August 2013 www.av-comparatives.
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org Contents Outline .............................. Fehler! Textmarke nicht definiert. Introduction: Macs and Security Software ..... 3 Malware Protection/Detection Test .............. 6 Avira Free Mac Security .............................. 7 ESET Cyber Security Pro ............................ 11 F-Secure Anti-Virus for Mac....................... 14 Intego Mac Premium Bundle ..................... 17 Kaspersky Security for Mac.................
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org Introduction: Macs and Security Software In February 2013, Reuters1 and many other news agencies reported that Mac computers used by Apple’s own staff had been infected by malware and then used to launch an attack on Facebook. Apple admitted that some of their systems had indeed been compromised. Whilst this is in itself only a single small incident, it nonetheless proves that the Mac OS cannot be regarded as immune to malware attacks.
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org Review of Security Software for OS X Mountain Lion We have reviewed and tested the following products for this report, using the newest version available in July 2013: AVIRA Free Mac Security 10.0.0.64 ESET Cyber Security Pro 5.0.110 F‐Secure Anti‐Virus for Mac B12533.C740 Intego Mac Premium Bundle 10.7.5 Kaspersky Security for Mac 14.0.0.177 Quick Heal Total Security for Mac 1.0 Sophos Anti‐Virus for Mac Home Edition 8.0.
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org particular folder or drive. We check the OS X Finder context menu to see if the program has added a scan entry; this is not essential, but nonetheless a very convenient method of running a scan on a particular drive or folder.
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org Malware Protection/Detection Test In addition to the interface review described above, we have also conducted actual malware protection tests to see how effectively the Mac security products protect the system against malware. For this test, we used 20 recent and prevalent samples of Mac malware that are not blocked by Mac OS X Mountain Lion itself. All are distinctly malicious, functioning programs and were seen in-the-field in 2013.
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org Avira Free Mac Security then click “Open”; the program can then be installed. This may not be obvious to nonexpert Mac users. Introduction Avira Free Mac Security is an antivirus program without any additional features. Nature and size of the installer: 121 MB full installer Steps in the installation process are accepting the licence agreement, then choosing an installation disk and folder. There are no other options.
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org Mac Security displays the following warning in the status section: carried out, the Avira program icon in the Dock shows a warning symbol: We found the installation process to be very quick and simple. The user manual suggests two methods of uninstalling the program: moving the application to Trash, or using the command line. Additionally, an uninstaller program can be found under Applications/Utilities.
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org AMTSO phishing test page: the page is displayed. We note that Avira is among the vendors listed as supporting the anti-phishing test feature, but we assume this only applies to Windows suites. Avira does not add an entry to Finder’s context menu, so custom scan have to be initiated from the console.
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org currently displayed page of the program, so searching for “schedule” when on the home/status page shows no results. We suspect some users may find this confusing. Summary Avira Security for Mac provides all the essential features of an antivirus program for free, and proved highly effective at detecting both Mac and Windows malware. It receives our Approved Security Productaward. Overall, we found it to be extremely easy to use.
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org ESET Cyber Security Pro product has been activated with a username and password, an automatic update is carried out. Introduction ESET Cyber Security Pro includes the typical features of a Windows Internet security suite, namely antimalware, firewall and parental control. Nature and size of the installer: 51MB full installer. We were pleased to note that the installer checks to see if a newer version is available before commencing.
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org The main program window of ESET Cyber Security Pro uses a similar format to its Windows counterpart. A narrow left-hand column serves as a menu bar for important tasks and features, including Computer Scan, Update and Help.
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org Help and Documentation ESET produce two manuals for Cyber Security Pro. There is a very simple 12-page, largeprint Quick Start Guide, which covers the essentials of installation and use, and a much more comprehensive 24-page User Guide. The latter covers all aspects of the installation and use of the program in detail, and has been appropriately illustrated with screenshots.
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org F‐Secure Anti‐Virus for Mac Program interface The main program window will be familiar to anyone who has used F-Secure products for Windows. The status is shown by means of a big circular button, which is green with a white tick (checkmark) if all is well, along with the text “Your computer is protected” at the top of the window. Introduction F-Secure Anti-Virus for Mac is a straightforward antivirus program.
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org There is however a permanent F-Secure icon in the System Tray, which displays the following mini-menu: The user can confirm that an update has taken place by clicking on Statistics; Last Successful Update Check will show “a moment ago”. Nonetheless, we feel that automatically displaying a message along the lines of “Your malware signatures are up to date” would be much clearer. A scan button can be found on the home page.
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org Real-time protection test: when we plugged in a USB flash drive containing Mac malware samples, the program immediately displayed a message stating that a harmful item had been found; the real-time protection had in fact already detected a number of the malware samples. Clicking on Details shows that the file has been “trashed”.
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org Intego Mac Premium Bundle Introduction Intego Mac Premium Bundle 2013 combines an antimalware component (VirusBarrier), a firewall (NetBarrier), parental controls (Family Protector), identity protection (Identity Scrubber), backup (Personal Backup), and privacy controls (Washing Machine).
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org We found the setup process to be very simple and straightforward. Re-running the installation package provides an option to uninstall the software. This provided the opportunity to remove the components (antivirus/firewall etc) separately from each other. Dragging the Intego icon from the Applications window in Finder to the Trash also allows the software to be uninstalled, albeit in its entirety without any choice of components.
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org Overall, we found the program’s interface to be clear and simple, although we feel a more effective warning could be shown when realtime protection is disabled. A custom scan can be run from the File menu in the Mac Menu Bar. A section at the bottom of the main window serves as a status display for both real-time protection and scheduled scanning; the former is activated by default, the latter not.
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org screenshots. We would however point out that the scope of the guide is very limited, even for a simple, easy-to-use product. There is a link on the page to the Knowledge Base, which contains a few links to other relevant pages, such as running a custom scan or installing/uninstalling the program. The instructions given on these pages are again brief but very clear.
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org Kaspersky Security for Mac Introduction Kaspersky Security for Mac includes antivirus and parental control components, and a virtual keyboard. We installed the program from a 180MB .dmg file; this is a full installer, but checks for a newer version before proceeding, which we find optimal.
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org Scan and Virus Scan. We found the term “Virus Scan” unclear – it is in fact a custom scan. Program Interface The program window is dominated by a big circular button on the right-hand side, which serves as the status display. This is coloured green if all is well, amber (yellow) for minor problems and red for major problems.
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org If a user without administrator privileges attempts to disable real-time protection from the main program window, the control is locked and cannot be unlocked without entering administrator credentials. However, the same user can disable protection by clicking the Kaspersky icon in the System Tray and then clicking “Turn Protection Off” – this is not locked and does not require any additional credentials.
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org Overall, we found the help and documentation provided for Kaspersky Security for Mac to be excellent. Summary Kaspersky Security for Mac is a highly effective antivirus program that receives our Approved Security Product award. The interface is very largely clear and easy to use, and the virtual keyboard is a valuable added security feature. Our only significant suggestion for improvement would be to enable scheduled scanning.
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org Quick Heal Total Security for Mac Introduction Quick Heal Total Security 2013 for Mac is a straightforward antivirus program. Nature and size of the installer: 258MB full installer Quick Heal Total Security for Mac can be uninstalled very easily using the uninstaller program provided in the setup package.
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org Quick Heal does not add an entry to the Finder context menu, so scans have to be started from the program window. We found the overall design of the program to be very clear and uncluttered, with a very clear status display and warnings. However, we feel that adding the update function and subscription information to the main window would be an improvement.
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org Quick Heal Total Security for Mac did produce a perfect score with Windows malware, detecting all samples in the test-set. EICAR potentially unwanted application: the web page is blocked, and Quick Heal displays a warning message. The file is not downloaded. Help and Documentation The program’s local Help feature, accessed from the Help menu in the Mac Menu Bar, is a 52-page manual in .pdf format.
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org Sophos Anti‐Virus for Mac Home Edition Introduction Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac Home Edition is a straightforward antivirus program. Nature and size of the installer: 78MB full installer Installation The downloaded package includes not only the installer, but also an .html document entitled “Before You Install”.
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org Overall, we would describe the user interface as being somewhat too minimalist, and suggest that a status display for real-time protection and updates, along with an “update now” button, would be valuable additions to the main program window. There is no status display (of real-time protection or updates) in the window.
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org page, and the document has been well bookmarked, enabling easy access to any section from Adobe Reader’s bookmarks bar. EICAR potentially unwanted application: the file downloaded successfully without detection by Sophos; scanning the Downloads folder afterwards did not detect the program either. Although Sophos is listed amongst the vendors supporting this feature, we assume this only applies to its Windows programs.
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org KromTech MacKeeper Introduction KromTech MacKeeper (previously known as ZeoBIT MacKeeper) is a comprehensive suite of Mac utilities; please see the “Other features” section for details. Nature and size of the installer: 370KB downloader (downloads over 70MB) Installation Installation is a very simple and quick affair, the only option being to change the drive on which MacKeeper is installed.
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org under “Last check for update” in the status area at the top has been updated. Program interface The Status page of the program only indicates whether the Internet Security component is installed, not whether it is up to date, realtime scanning is on or if a scan has been run recently.
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org its default configuration has been designed to do this effectively. Malware protection/detection test KromTech identified all the samples of Mac malware, and all but two of the Windows malware samples, used in our tests. Non-administrator access We found that we could disable MacKeeper’s real-time protection using a nonadministrator account, without having to enter any additional credentials.
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org Geek on Demand (online support). We did not test any of the additional features, as the review concentrates on malware protection. Summary KromTech’s Internet Security is an effective security program for the Mac, which protects against Mac malware and intercepts Windows malware too. It has all the essential functionality of a good antivirus program. Consequently, it receives our Approved Security Product award.
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org Summary Seven of the products we have reviewed receive our Approved Security Product award. Unfortunately, we were unable to give Quick Heal Total Security an award, due to misses in the Mac malware test at the time of testing. The review covers protection against Mac malware, Windows malware detection, ease of use and help functions; potential buyers should also consider additional features and price before choosing a product.
FREE COMMERCIAL COMMERCIAL COMMERCIAL COMMERCIAL COMMERCIAL Product name: Avira Free Mac Security ESET Cyber Security Pro F‐Secure Anti‐Virus for Mac Intego Mac Premium Bundle Kaspersky Security for Mac Quick Heal Total Security Supported operating systems: Mac OS X 6 and higher Mac OS X 6 and higher Mac OS X 6 and higher Mac OS X 6 and higher Mac OS X 6 and higher Mac OS X 6 and higher Featurelist Mac (as of July 2013) Supported Program languages: Protection Real‐Time protection On‐de
Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org Copyright and Disclaimer This publication is Copyright © 2013 by AV-Comparatives e.V. ®. Any use of the results, etc. in whole or in part, is ONLY permitted after the explicit written agreement of the management board of AVComparatives e.V., prior to any publication. AV-Comparatives e.V.
