AV-TEST Awards 2024: the gala for award-winning IT security

The Best Protection 2024 Award is presented to the best protection packages against malware attacks for consumer users under Windows. Following the completion of many product tests in the AV-TEST laboratories and the evaluation of all test results from 2024, the award winners have now been determined. This year, the AV-TEST team is presenting the Best Protection 2024 Award to the products Bitdefender Total Security, F-Secure Total and Kaspersky Plus.

The AV-TEST experts have also identified the products for corporate users with the best protection results in the test year 2024. For their achievements often far above the industry standard, the institute is presenting the Best Protection 2024 Award for Corporate Users to the following vendors and products: Bitdefender Business Security, Bitdefender Business Security Enterprise, Kaspersky Endpoint Security, Kaspersky Small Office Security and WithSecure Elements.

Consumer users expect to be able to fully rely on their protection packages, both for protection against malware and identification of harmless programs. Above all, however, it is essential that a package does not impede or slow down the consumer’s computer. The AV-TEST experts compared the product results from the laboratory and, based on their findings, are presenting the AV-TEST Best Performance 2024 Award for Consumer Users to McAfee Total Protection.

To a certain extent office PCs are known to be less performant, thus making the system load under Windows an important aspect. AV-TEST examined the use of resources, and therefore the system load, of endpoint solutions in many of its Windows tests. After achieving excellent results in all of these tests, Seqrite Endpoint Protection is receiving the AV-TEST Best Performance 2024 Award for Corporate Users.

When security software sounds the alarm on a Windows system, it may be a classic case of a false positive. The AV-TEST laboratory therefore examines every protection package to determine whether it is able to correctly distinguish between harmless and malicious files with no unnecessary false alarms. In the test year 2024, the Kaspersky Plus protection package achieved the most precise detection with no false positives. As a result, Kaspersky Plus is receiving the Best Usability 2024 Award for Consumer Users.

The threat scenario for corporate users is currently riskier than ever before, as is also confirmed by the reports on successful phishing and ransomware attacks circulating in various media. When an endpoint product raises a false alarm in a corporate environment, SOC or IT support teams face extremely stressful situations. Against this background, the AV-TEST laboratory examines all protection solutions to determine their ability to differentiate between malicious and harmless files and to avoid so-called false positive alarms. For their outstanding performance in this category in the test year 2024, the AV-TEST Institute is presenting the Best Usability 2024 Award for Corporate Users to Kaspersky Small Office Security and Kaspersky Endpoint Security.

Can a protection package help to fend off an attacker even if it fails to detect it instantly? The Advanced Threat Protection tests, or ATP tests for short, answer this question by precisely testing the defense mechanisms of a package against ransomware and infostealers in real-life scenarios. The tests show how successfully further protection modules within a security package work hand in hand to be able to stop attackers even further down the line. One product for consumer users came out on top in all tests in this area in 2024: McAfee Total Protection. For its particularly strong results, the AV-TEST team is presenting the Best Advanced Protection 2024 Award for Consumer Users to McAfee Total Protection.

The worst-case scenario is the same for all companies: A digital attacker goes undetected, penetrates the system and executes its destructive purpose. As the special Advanced Threat Protection tests (ATP) reveal, protection solutions can do much more than just detect malware. After initial non-detection, further internal protection mechanisms and modules come into play and disable the attackers partly or even fully in further steps. The results of the advanced tests in 2024 helped identify particularly successful solutions for companies. Based on their outstanding protection performance, the AV-TEST Institute is presenting the following vendors and products with the Best Advanced Protection 2024 Award for Corporate Users: Bitdefender Business Security, Kaspersky Small Office Security and Kaspersky Endpoint Security.

Smartphones with Android now perform so impressively that they are becoming increasingly attractive as a lucrative target for cyber attackers. After all, a hijacked Android smartphone, including its internet connection, is usually available all day long. Many bot networks misuse mobile Android devices for their attacks. Against this background, the AV-TEST laboratory tests Android security apps with regard to protection and examines their system load, battery consumption and false alarms. Out of all of the security apps tested in 2024, one stood out in particular and has therefore earned itself an award. The Best Android Security 2024 Award for Consumer Users is therefore being presented to the Bitdefender Mobile Security app.

The fact that the AV-TEST databases currently contain nearly one million special malware samples for MacOS clearly shows that good system protection is also essential for Mac users – and has been for quite some time. The AV-TEST team analyzed and evaluated all test results for security software under MacOS recorded in 2024. On this basis, the team is presenting the Best MacOS Security 2024 Award for Consumer Users to the following vendors and their products for the best overall performance in all test categories: Avast Security, AVG AntiVirus, Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac, Kaspersky Premium and Norton 360.

MacOS work terminals at companies require just as much protection as all other work computers. After all, when it comes to heterogeneous networks in particular, attackers try to take hold of one of the systems and use this access to penetrate the corporate network. In 2024, the AV-TEST team examined and evaluated many products in a multitude of tests to identify the protection solutions that offer the best possible security for MacOS systems. The highest points total across all tests was achieved by Trellix Endpoint Security Agent, which is therefore being presented with the Best MacOS Security 2024 Award for Corporate Users.