Kaspersky solutions win record number of awards in independent tests

Choosing the right cybersecurity solution is no easy task. Friends’ opinions and/or crowdsourced ratings — which are great for simpler products and services — are less reliable. While these can help with assessing user interfaces and overall usability, they’re not much good for assessing the quality of protection against advanced threats.

The most balanced, objective source is independent expert research by specialized testing labs and media. Yes, independent — they must have no ties to any vendor whose products they evaluate whatsoever.

We’ve always taken independent testing of our products and services seriously. And for a quick and easy way to evaluate just how well we’ve been doing down the years, our website has a Top-3 section, which shows the number of tests taken part in during a year, and in how many we podiumed.

2023 was a record year for us: out of precisely a hundred tests featuring our solutions, 93 times we came first, and 94 times finished in the top-three. And since 2013, our products have been tested by independent researchers a total of 927 times, claiming 680 first places (and 779 top-three finishes). This is the absolute record among all security solutions vendors both in terms of the number of tests and the number of victories.

Now for a little more detail.

Comparative chart with the results of independent security testing of popular vendors. Kaspersky is the absolute leader: 680 first places out of 927 tests conducted. Source

Most significant awards

Last year’s achievements are too numerous to list in their entirety, so we’ll highlight the most outstanding:

• Kaspersky Standard was named Product of the Year by AV-Comparatives. So pleased were we, we even dedicated a separate blog post to the story.
• Kaspersky Plus for Windows underwent all of SE Labs’ quarterly Endpoint Security: Home 2023 tests, and earned the highest total accuracy rating of 100% in all four of them.
• Kaspersky Safe Kids was awarded Parental Control certification by AV-Comparatives for blocking at least 98 percent of pornographic websites with zero false positives on child-friendly websites.
• Kaspersky Plus for Mac picked up its first Best MacOS Security Award for Consumer Users from AV-Test, with perfect results in its Mac security testing over the course of the whole year.
• A trio of our products – Kaspersky Standard, Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Business and Kaspersky Small Office Security – won AV-Test’s Best Advanced Protection 2023 award for exceptional protection against APT attacks deploying ransomware and data stealers. These products also received the Best Usability 2023 award for the lowest number of false positives, the maximum score in all categories (including protection, performance, and usability), as well as the “Top Product” award based on AV-TEST’s results for Windows antivirus software for both home and business.
• Kaspersky Endpoint Detection and Response gained recognition as “Strategic Leader” for achieving a 100% active response cumulative score in AV-Comparatives’ Endpoint Prevention & Response (EPR). The solution was also awarded AV-TEST’s Approved Advanced Endpoint Detection and Response Certification for demonstrating impressive coverage and valuable analytics in a study that involved a series of red-team attacks that replicated the tactics of both the Hafnium and Lazarus hacking groups. Additionally, the solution was recognized by SE Labs in its Enterprise Advanced Security (EDR) test, receiving the highest AAA rating for detecting all targeted attacks with no false positives.
• Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Business and Kaspersky Small Office Security were awarded AAA ratings in all SE Labs’ Endpoint Security: Enterprise 2023 and Endpoint Security: SMB 2023 comparative tests, respectively.

Who does the testing?

For those unfamiliar with the world of cybersecurity testing, here’s a rundown of the key players.

• AV-Comparatives is an independent Austrian organization that’s been testing security products for over 24 years. During this time, what started out as a student project at the University of Innsbruck has grown into one of the most influential research centers in cybersecurity.
• AV-Test GmbH is an independent German information-security research institute. It has been advising industry associations, companies, and government agencies on cybersecurity for more than 15 years.
• SE Labs is an independent UK company that has developed next-generation product testing based on a comprehensive approach to security assessment.

Alternative approach

Of course, besides serious testing labs, there are specialized media and bloggers that evaluate security software. Their research may be a little less meticulous, but in terms of the grabbing of users’ attention (aka “influencing”:), YouTubers and tech wordsmiths can’t be beat.

If this format floats your boat, we recommend checking out tests (for example, 1, 2 and 3) on the PC Security Channel, run by a UK-based YouTuber. The channel’s killer feature is the many tech gurus among its subscribers, who like to cast a critical eye over the posted content and add their own valuable observations.