VB100 test blasts Windows Server security vendors

Testers say many products performed unreliably.

More than one quarter of the security products submitted for the recent Virus Bulletin VB100 anti-malware tests failed to post a passing score.

The security publication said that the June edition of its test pitted vendors against malware samples collected for Windows Server 2008 R2. Products are tested and graded both for detecting known pieces of malware and reporting back 'false positive' results on uninfected files.

In the June edition of the test, the company found that of the 33 products which underwent the test, nine failed to register passing grades. Among the products which failed the test were offerings from Norman, eEye, bkis and Frisk.

Products from Digital Defender and Virusfighter also failed to earn certification in the test.

In general, the testers found that in general the products tested were found to perform unreliably when applied to Windows Server 2008.

"Such unreliability is particularly significant on a server platform, where administrators require absolute trustworthiness and total trackability of all activities," said Virus Bulletin director of testing John Hawes.

"A product demonstrating the sort of flaky behaviour we have seen in our tests this month would cause major headaches for an administrator."