BitDefender reacts to viruses the fastest

There`s little doubt that viruses are here to stay. During the first half of this year, researchers have identified almost double the number of viruses or variants identified in the second half of 2003 and over seven times more than those identified during the first quarter of 2003. BitDefender CTO Bogdan Dumitru speaks on viruses, epidemics and the high and mighty.

"It would seem there is no end to the plague. Moreover, despite the education and prevention efforts of big business anti-virus producers, the media and, more recently, Microsoft, major viral epidemics still make the headlines," says Dumitru.

"Why is the public still not educated enough on these issues?" he asks. "The public is being educated on the danger of viruses on a massive scale. Each month, there`s a new epidemic, and technology reporters worldwide make it their duty to remind to everyone the rules of AV protection. Sadly, along with awareness, the threats faced by Internet users have also grown."

The rapid proliferation of worms and Trojans means that applying common sense rules like `patch regularly` and `don`t open spooky attachments` is just not enough to keep systems protected. Unfortunately, it would seem that our work is more necessary than ever.

"What are AV companies doing to stem the flow? Their products are the ones that are supposed to protect everything else. The AV community is reacting as best it can. There`s increasing cooperation in technical matters, and a sense of having a common foe. One of the major issues in fighting virus epidemics is reaction speed. The faster anti-virus updates are issued, the quicker a new infection can be stopped. We call this the update race."

The German independent anti-virus authority AV-Test recently issued the following results:

1. BitDefender (less than four hours)
2. Kaspersky (less than four hours)
3. AntiVir (less than six hours)
4. Dr Web (less than six hours)
5. F-Secure (less than six hours)
6. Panda (less than six hours)
7. RAV (less than six hours)
8. Quickheal (less than eight hours)
9. Sophos (less than eight hours)
10. AVG (less than 10 hours)
11. Command (less than 10 hours)
12. F-Prot (less than 10 hours)
13. Norman (less than 10 hours)
14. Trend Micro (less than 10 hours)
15. VirusBuster (less than 10 hours)
16. Avast (less than 12 hours)
17. eTrust beta (less than 12 hours)
18. Ikarus (less than 14 hours)
19. McAfee (less than 14 hours)
20. eTrust (less than 16 hours)
21. Symantec (less than 16 hours)

Average response time: about 10 hours

"We`re doing our bit. As the analysis shows, BitDefender has the fastest average response time for the last nine months. We intend to keep holding that record. Also, we`re introducing new technologies, like update pushing, to get those updates out to our clients in record time," he explains.

"What you have to remember, though, is that a massive part of the total number of anti-virus products installed worldwide belongs to the companies which are the slowest in reacting to new threats. I hope I`m wrong, but this could be one of the reasons for the success of some new viruses," concludes Dumitru.