- Trend Micro Internet Security
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Trend Micro Internet Security 
Trend Micro Internet Security 2008Developer(s) Trend Micro Stable release Internet Security 2010 (V17.50.1366.0000) August 23, 2009 Operating system Microsoft Windows Type Antivirus License Proprietary Website www.trendmicro.com Trend Micro Internet Security (known as PC-cillin Internet Security in Australia and Virus Buster in Japan) is an antivirus/Internet security program developed by Trend Micro. The program includes antivirus software, web threat protection, browser cookie removal, parental controls and a computer firewall.
Contents
Features
The latest version is Trend Micro Internet Security 2010, which offers the following features:
- Anti-virus
- Anti-spyware
- Anti-spam
- Email safety scan
- Protection against rootkits
- Proactive intrusion blocking
- Two-way firewall
- Home network protection
- Website authentication
- Parental controls (including content filtering and Internet access scheduling)
- Personal data leak prevention
The Trend Micro Internet Security Pro version also includes:
- Wireless network validation
- Keylogger protection
- Online backup
- Remote folder and file permissions control
- PC tuning and cleanup
- Trend Micro Mobile Security for Windows Mobile PDAs and Symbian OS mobile phones
Effectiveness
A May 2006 test published by PC World Australia revealed that the virus scanner component of PC-cillin Internet Security Suite 2006 was severely lacking in heuristic capabilities, catching just 5% of worms and 7% of backdoor programs on a testbed with month-old anti-virus definitions. This was due to Trend Micro's belief that the problems caused by heuristics (in particular, the inconvenience of false positives) outweighed the benefits. The product did, however, benefit from fast outbreak-response times, and the user interface was easy to use.[1]
In a test published by PC World and performed by AV-test.org in April 2007, Trend Micro AntiVirus + AntiSpyware 2007 (the standalone Anti-Malware application) was tested along with several competing Anti-Malware applications by various vendors. Trend Micro scored somewhat poorly in this test, scoring the lowest of all applications tested at 82% detection rate.
AV-comparatives also published a single test report in March 2007 which tested the Internet Security edition. Trend Micro fares somewhat better in this test, reaching an 87% detection rate, while the minimum detection rate to qualify for testing in AV-comparatives is 85%. However, the author of the test notes that Trend Micro was tested later than other products which are normally included in its comparative reports, and says that considering that Trend Micro had about 2 months more time (and hence was updated to a more recent date) than the other tested products, Trend Micro may or may not have reached the minimum certification level at the actual time of testing (i.e. 2 months earlier).
AV-test.org published another test report on May 22, 2007, which tested various other products along with Trend Micro. Trend Micro scored 90.97% overall.
In the Consumer Reports Electronics Buying Guide 2008, Trend Micro was rated higher than any other security suite tested. The results are based on tests published in Consumer Reports in September 2007.
Trend Micro has had moderate success with the Virus Bulletin VB100 award failing 11 tests and succeeding 16[2]. It has also acquired certification from ICSA Labs for Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware detection, as well as Check Mark, which signifies that it is able to provide at least basic protection against in-the wild (i.e. highly spreading dangerous malware with a high infection rate) malware.
Trend Micro's firewall has only undergone limited testing, however, tests conducted by Matousec Matousec indicate that Trend Micro's firewall has poor protection; Trend Micro scored a 27% on the firewall leak test.
Trend Micro's Smart Protection Network deploys bots to verify websites visited by users of Trend Micro Internet Security. While users of the software is visiting a website, the Trend Micro bots break security measures and rules specified by the website administrator and displays malware characteristics [3]. The antivirus software uses the trust websites have for users with administrative and other privileges to circumvent website security measures to allow Trend Micro's bots the opportunity to download privileged information or to inject files to the website. This can be a major privacy and security risk for Trend Micro Internet Security users who access Internet banking facilities.
History
Previous versions of the program as of March 2009, are:
- PC-cillin
- PC-cillin 2000
- PC-cillin 2002
- PC-cillin 2003
- PC-cillin Internet Security v11/2004
- PC-cillin Internet Security v12/2005
- PC-cillin Internet Security v14/2006
- Trend Micro Internet Security v15/2007
- Trend Micro Internet Security v16/2008
Only versions from 2007 onwards are currently still being supported by Trend Micro.
PC-cillin 2000 and earlier versions were purely virus scanners without any additional features. PC-cillin 2002 and 2003 were stand-alone virus scanners which also included a firewall component and improved the scanning engine somewhat. The newer PC-cillin Internet Security bundle offers more features such as spyware protection, anti-spam and an integrated firewall along with an improved scan engine and enhanced heuristics. After PC-cillin 2003, Trend Micro did not offer a stand-alone antivirus program for the consumer market till 2007, when the company finally released a standalone Anti-Malware product which offers protection from viruses, spyware, and (possibly) adware.
References
- ^ Bradley, Tony (May 2006). "The New Virus Fighters" (in English (Australia)). St Leonards, NSW, Australia: IDG Communications Pty Ltd. pp. 60–64.
- ^ http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archive/results?vendor=VE3 Trend Micro VB100
- ^ Project Honeypot
External links
Categories:- Antivirus software
- Firewall software
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