Kaspersky Internet Security was rated as the best protection solution following an endurance test carried out from September 2013 to February 2014 by the experts of the independent laboratory AV TEST. Kaspersky Lab’s product achieved top scores for malware detection while maintaining a lower system load than any other tested product.

AV-TEST’s endurance test is an extended study in which different internet security suites are tested over three two-month periods on three different operating systems — Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. This testing method helps to find the best solution by analyzing its effectiveness on a long- term basis, unlike traditional tests that can only demonstrate the capabilities of the protection at a given moment in time.

The experts evaluated 24 security suites from different vendors in three categories. The first category, Protection, tested the combined ability to detect a reference set of malware and to identify new pieces of previously unknown malware. The second one, System Load, demonstrates impact of the security suite on system performance and measures delays in the installation or execution of programs, website responses and data downloads. The last category, Usability, assesses the correct identification of legitimate programs and websites.

Kaspersky Internet Security suite boasted the best results over the six months of testing and was able to score 17.8 of a maximum possible total of 18 points. It got 6.0 out of 6.0 points in Usability and Protection categories, detecting 100 % of 60,000 known pieces of malware and identifying all of about 400 samples of zero-day malware in a real-world test conducted by visiting recently infected websites and opening suspicious e-mail attachments. Furthermore, Kaspersky Internet Security also got 5.8 out of 6 in System Load, beating its nearest rival by 0.3 points.

“Users of modern security suites don’t want to be disturbed either by viruses or by antiviruses. The solution’s ability to avoid excessive drain on system resources and avoid false positives is just as important as its primary function of detecting and neutralizing malware. Kaspersky Internet Security’s impressive results in this test reflect the optimal comfort level our customers enjoy in addition to unquestionable security for their systems,” commented Oleg Ishanov, Director Anti-Malware Research, Kaspersky Lab.