AV-TEST: Android Device Protection Assessed
AV-TEST's latest lab analysis of 15 Android security apps reveals their effectiveness in safeguarding mobile devices against cyber threats. While many apps achieved top scores, some showed minor deficiencies.
A recent laboratory analysis by AV-TEST, conducted by SITS Deutschland GmbH, indicates that most security applications for Android offer robust protection for mobile devices against cyber threats. In the latest test, completed in February 2024, eleven out of fifteen examined apps achieved perfect scores across protection, performance, and usability.
The evaluation assessed the apps' capabilities in detecting malware in real-time and from a broader set of programs that had been in circulation. Additionally, the test scrutinized the resource consumption of these apps and their impact on battery life. Android devices are attractive targets for cybercriminals due to the significant amount of personal data they hold, with an estimated nearly 35 million malicious Android apps currently in circulation.
Six applications – Avast, AVG, Bitdefender, Kaspersky, Norton, and securiON – successfully identified 100 percent of malware in both testing phases. Other apps, such as McAfee, Avira, F-Secure, and G DATA, achieved slightly lower, yet still high, detection rates in the real-time testing.
Protected.net, Protectstar, and Google Play Protect received minor point deductions after exhibiting some detection errors, particularly in the real-time test. Overall, the test results suggest a generally high level of protection, with most apps also performing well in terms of system load.