Bitdefender Triumphs in AV-Comparatives 2023 Advanced Threat Protection Test

Bitdefender swept the competition again in this year’s Advanced Threat Protection test by AV-Comparatives, blocking more attacks on consumer devices than any other vendor tested.

Threat actors use clever attack avenues to hack into the personal devices of powerful people, like CEOs or CFOs. These advanced tactics have trickled down into the consumer realm, threatening regular folk with elusive social engineering schemes and powerful malware.

Simulating advanced attacks

Every year, Austria-based AV-Comparatives pits antivirus makers against each other in intricate attack scenarios to determine which product consumers should gravitate towards.

While most vendors are happy to compete in the annual Main-Test Series, not all dare face the lab’s optional Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) trial, which examines how the products perform against very specific, targeted attack methods. This year, just seven vendors were confident enough to battle it out in the ATP leg.

The institute’s ATP test simulates advanced attacks typically carried out by sophisticated adversaries against high-profile targets. Previously focused solely on enterprise scenarios, the ATP assessment now also tests attacks in the consumer realm, as adversaries are increasingly targeting our personal devices using the same tactics applied in high-profile attacks.

The test mimics the tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) used by threat actors to gain a foothold, avoid detection, and move laterally across the target network. AV-Comparatives launched 15 different attacks based on the MITRE ATT&CK® framework in scenarios such as spear-phishing, access through stolen credentials, infected removable media, exploits involving trusted relationships, and more.

Bitdefender tops the leaderboard

Bitdefender aced the ATP test, blocking 14 of the 15 attacks, while also blocking attacks more often than any other vendor at the pre-execution stage.

As the lab likes to emphasize, “A good burglar alarm should go off when somebody breaks into your house, not wait until they start stealing things.”

By stopping attacks before any malicious payload is activated, Bitdefender solutions significantly reduce the risk of a successful attack.

In our opinion, the goal of every AV/EPP/EDR system should be to detect and prevent attacks or other malware as soon as possible. In other words, if the attack is detected before, at or soon after execution, thus preventing e.g. the opening of a Command and Control Channel, there is no need to prevent post-exploitation activities. A good burglar alarm should go off when somebody breaks into your house, not wait until they start stealing things. -- AV Comparatives

The product tested was the latest version of Bitdefender Internet Security, which consistently ranks high in independent tests, and whose underlying detection and prevention technologies are found throughout our entire suite of consumer products.

Despite the complexity under the hood, Bitdefender solutions integrate seamlessly with consumers’ day-to-day activities, protecting personal devices with minimal effort by the user.

In January, Bitdefender nabbed its fifth AV-Comp’s Product of the Year award – more than any other vendor in the past decade.

And consumers participating in a global survey by AV-Comparatives last year named Bitdefender the most popular mobile security vendor in the world.