AV-TEST Institute is an organization that runs anti-virus/anti-malware tests. During AV-TEST Institute’s latest Nov/Dec 2012 anti-malware testing, 3 out 25 anti-virus software failed to gain certification. One of those 3 is Microsoft’s popular Security Essentials. (The other two are AhnLab V3 Internet Security and PC Tools Internet Security 2012.)

According to AV-TEST Institute, Microsoft Security Essentials failed to satisfactorily protect against 0-day malware attacks, scoring only 71 percent detection rate. The reason why I say only is because the industry average sits at 92 percent. Microsoft is, of course, none too pleased with the outcome and conducted a “rigorous review of the results” plus protested that only 0.0033 percent of Security Essentials users were affected by the malware that went undetected by their software in the tests.

It appears that the company is not just challenging these particular results, but the usefulness of testing against anti-virus in general. They claim that it is “difficult for independent anti-malware testing organizations to devise tests that are consistent with the real-world conditions.”

You have to wonder, would their statements sound like this if Security Essentials simply passed the test with flying colors? We’ll never know. Despite all that, Microsoft says they are “committed to reducing” the 0.0033 percent of users affected to zero.

[via The Verge, AV-Test Institute test results]