Posted by Virus Bulletin on Aug 16, 2010
Adjustments to test scores affect Kaspersky, VirusBuster.
In the wake of the recent VB100 comparative, covering a massive 54 products on Windows Vista SP2, further double-checking of results has unveiled some anomalies which require correction. These changes affect products from Kaspersky Lab and VirusBuster.
The issue affecting Kaspersky Lab was first observed when the developers queried why their new, enhanced 2011 edition appeared to have fared less well than the older version 6 in some of our tests. Further analysis showed a simple explanation - the results for the two products were reversed, thanks to the vagaries of alphabetical order in different operating systems. Our apologies are extended to Kaspersky for the mix up, the online results will be adjusted and corrected as soon as possible.
We also noted in post-test analysis that in the previous comparative, on Windows Server 2008, the scores for Kaspersky's latest solution for that platform were not fully recorded, thanks to the program silently crashing during the initial test. As the VB100 rules currently allow for products to be retried in the event of a problem, up to three times on different hardware, the product was re-run and no repeat of the crashing was observed; detection rates over the complete set of test samples are thus higher than initially reported. These results will also be corrected, and included in the cumulative RAP averages diagram.
A similar situation emerged with the scores for VirusBuster in this month's comparative, when the developers queried the disparity between their own results and those of their sister product from Central Command. Further analysis and a re-run of the test showed that there was a problem, as yet undiagnosed, in the initial gathering or processing of results, and a second set of figures show scores almost identical to those of Vexira, as expected by the developers. Further investigations are being carried out into anomalies in the detection scores of other products using the VirusBuster engine. Again we extend our apologies for the error, and will correct the online version of the report as soon as possible.
None of these changes affect qualification for VB100 certification. The next round of VB100 testing will run next month on the Windows Server 2003 platform, deadlines for the submission of products will be announced shortly.
Posted on 16 August 2010 by Virus Bulletin
