SecurityWeek: Inside The Competitive Testing Battlefield of Endpoint Security

Interview in SecurityWeek around the pros/cons of legacy antivirus endpoint and next-gen antivirus endpoint solutions.

There is bad feeling between what can be described as traditional antivirus (Trad AV) and next generation antivirus (Next-Gen Endpoint Security, or ES). It’s not universal, but it does exist.

In May, VirusTotal applied new rules to the use of its services in a move that many interpreted as aimed at, or at least primarily affecting, Next-Gen vendors. In June, Sophos (Trad-AV) lambasted Cylance over comparative testing methods. Comparative and competitive testing has emerged as the primary battlefield.

It’s a complex arena. Both technologies ultimately seek the same end: to protect systems from malware. Neither side is purely one nor the other: most Trad-AV companies have Next-Gen offerings or components; and many Next-Gen products include Trad-AV techniques. Nevertheless, most people will understand the difference.

Trad-AV includes, but is not limited to, companies such as ESET, F-Secure, Kaspersky Lab, Panda, and Sophos. Next-Gen Endpoint Security includes, but is not limited to, Cylance, Fidelis, FireEye, Palo Alto Networks and SentinelOne. SecurityWeek approached all of these companies for their view on this ‘bad feeling’.

For the sake of clarity we must stress that Next-Gen ES can usually claim to be more than just anti-malware; and that Trad AV today is far more than just a signature blacklist.

The prize is the anti-malware market. It’s almost impossible to say which side has what percentage of this market because of the overlapping technologies. Nevertheless, EMA Research suggests that the total market is worth $9 billion per annum, and that Next-Gen currently accounts for around $1.25 billion. Trad-AV holds the ground; and for Next-Gen ES to truly succeed, it needs to dislodge its traditional competitors. There have been several recent claims that it is trying to do so with unfair comparative testing methods.

Read the full article here:

https://www.securityweek.com/inside-competitive-testing-battlefield-endpoint-security