Virus definitions numbers

Discussion in 'other anti-virus software' started by IBK, Aug 11, 2005.

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  1. IBK

    IBK AV Expert

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    Just an overview of the number of virus records of some AV products...
     

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  2. RejZoR

    RejZoR Lurker

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    But we all know that these numbers don't mean anything...
    And the big bump in August is for your comparatives test (because it's the On-Demand test...)
     
  3. IBK

    IBK AV Expert

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    Yeah, that is what I wanted to show indirectly. You see a big bump in the numbers, but in the results of the august test you will not notice any big difference which could explain those numbers. (=virus records says absolutly nothing = just marketing).
     
  4. RejZoR

    RejZoR Lurker

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    Well in general i kinda belive those published by Kaspersky Lab.
    They are not way too high and we all know how good detection KAV has...
    But again generic signatures cannot be counted (Backdoor.Rbot.gen are quiet common)
     
  5. hbkh

    hbkh Registered Member

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    No Avast!?
     
  6. FastGame

    FastGame Registered Member

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    I think it was left out because in previous test the signature count is N/A
     
  7. Blackcat

    Blackcat Registered Member

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    NOD's is still top secret? :blink:
     
  8. vlk

    vlk AV Expert

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    Some vendors (like Eset/Nod and Alwil/Avast) don't publish these numbers as they are useless anyway.

    Give me an hour and I'll create a super duper virus scanner with say 10,000,000 signatures (or whatever number you pick). It won't detect any malware - but that's a different story ;) :D


    Cheers
     
  9. Firefighter

    Firefighter Registered Member

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    An other interesting point of view from this IBK table above. These numbers are still only some estimates of my own from that same picture.

    The growth of signatures between the period 2-2004 to 8-2005:

    183 % -- BitDefender
    154 % -- AntiVir
    _85 % -- F-Prot
    _75 % -- DrWeb
    _67 % -- Kaspersky
    _63 % -- McAfee
    _43 % -- M$ RAV
    _24 % -- Sophos
    _8.5% -- Symantec

    My private conclusion. Symantec and Sophos have outstanding heuristics, generic detection or what ever like these, when they are still in the game with so minimal growth of new signatures! :D

    Best regards,
    Firefighter!
     
    Last edited: Aug 12, 2005
  10. Brian N

    Brian N Registered Member

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    I had PHP count a file, and it came up with 48959. Maybe that's the max what it can count, or you gotta give or take a few K.
     
  11. IBK

    IBK AV Expert

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    number of virus records and number of virus names in database is not the same. If you count the number of virus names in KAV database you see that they are about the half of the number of virus records.
    p.s.: yes, your php did not count everything..., the number would be much higher...
     
  12. Brian N

    Brian N Registered Member

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    Ah well, worth a try :)
     
  13. fosius

    fosius Registered Member

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    Three or four years ago ESET told me that they had something about 50000 signatures... This number must be a lot bigger now...
     
  14. Stefan Kurtzhals

    Stefan Kurtzhals AV Expert

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    I don't think Symantec is giving the real number of signatures they actually have. IBK, how about also giving stats on the size of the virus definition files?
     
  15. Technodrome

    Technodrome Security Expert

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    Def files are much larger now so they must be adding something. The way they count malware is an entirely different matter and possibly has nothing to do with advertising. What av product (with high virus count) is very popular among the end users or enterprises? ;)
     
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