Kaspersky Lab, a leading developer of secure content management solutions, announces that Kaspersky Anti-Virus has received the Gold Malware Treatment Award from Anti-Malware Test Lab, an authoritative information security research portal.

Seventeen security solutions were tested by Anti-Malware Test Lab to assess their efficiency in treating active infections. The products tested included Microsoft Security Essentials 1.0, Norton AntiVirus 2010, Sophos Anti-Virus 9.0, and McAfee VirusScan Plus 2010. Testing was conducted in January-February 2010 on real machines running Windows XP SP3 and according to a specially designed methodology that assessed the ability of the products to combat malicious programs that have penetrated the system and are hiding traces of their activity.

According to the test results, Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010 came first along with Dr. Web Anti-Virus 5.00. Five more products received awards, but the rest of the participants, including Trend Micro Antivirus plus Antispyware 2010, McAfee VirusScan Plus 2010 and Eset NOD32 Antivirus 4.0, failed the test and were judged to be incapable of countering active threats.

“Anti-Malware Test Lab has taken on board feedback from vendors and run this test on real computers rather than virtual machines. This approach has given them a clearer idea of the actual state of affairs,” says Vyacheslav Rusakov, senior software developer at Kaspersky Lab. “Every year malware is becoming a bigger problem. Rootkits and complex threats demonstrate a clear trend of using increasingly sophisticated malicious code. Calls to improve the components designed to combat on-going infections have fallen on deaf ears, as the latest test has demonstrated. Most security products are falling behind in terms of treating active infections. We are glad to see Kaspersky Lab products living up to their reputation as high-tech security solutions capable of both preventing malware from penetrating users’ computers and efficiently combating an on-going infection. Kaspersky Lab continues to maintain a balance between technological innovations and solid support for all areas of development.”