Independent Testing Shows Which Business Security Products Actually Hold Up

Innsbruck, Austria – Independent testing institute AV-Comparatives has released the results of its Business Security Test, covering the period from March to June 2026. The comprehensive evaluation assessed the performance of 16 leading endpoint security products under real-world conditions, as cyber threats such as ransomware and supply-chain attacks continue to disrupt businesses.

The Business Main-Test Series examined how effectively each product defended against live malware attacks encountered during everyday web use, as well as pre-existing malware introduced via disk or network. The tests also assessed the rate of false alarms on both common business software and other applications. A separate performance test measured the impact of each product on system speed during typical tasks like file copying, archiving, application launches, and web browsing.

Sixteen vendors participated, including Avast, Bitdefender, Cisco, CrowdStrike, Elastic, ESET, Kaspersky, Microsoft, and Sophos. In terms of protection, Kaspersky, Bitdefender, and Elastic achieved the strongest results with a 99.8 percent protection rate across 400 real-world test cases. A dedicated Malware Protection Test used 1,000 recent malware samples, where Elastic achieved a perfect 100 percent detection rate, followed closely by Avast and Norton at 99.8 percent.

Regarding system performance, ESET and Kaspersky demonstrated the lowest impact scores, indicating minimal disruption to daily work on protected machines. Fifteen of the 16 tested products met the strict criteria for the AV-Comparatives Approved Business Product Award for July 2026. Andreas Clementi, CEO of AV-Comparatives, highlighted the importance of this independent, evidence-based data for IT decision-makers selecting security solutions.