Avast leads, Microsoft free antivirus gaining in AV market share report

Free signature-based antivirus software seems to be some of the most generally deployed security technology on consumer and small business PCs, in keeping with a report issued today.

Avast Software held the strongest global market share lead, in line with software management toolkit maker OPSWAT, which released an AV market share report in response to data it collected using its AppRemover security application detection and removal tool.

Avast led the analysis with a 16.26% global market share, which incorporates both freely available and paid antimalware software. The seller, based within the Czech Republic, offers a free version of its antivirus software. The corporate also sells a professional version with secure Internet browsing features and a whole Internet security suite with firewall and antispam capabilities. Avira, AVG, Microsoft and ESET follow within the rankings, each with over 10% of the market.

Data for the report was collected from greater than 300,000 Windows systems using the OPSWAT AppRemover tool, which collects information regarding applications installed on endpoint computers. The free tool is utilized by people to scan and entirely uninstall security applications.

“As in our previous reports, free solutions remain on the top of the market with the very best numbers of installations,” OPSWAT said in its report. “The top three products in North America and worldwide come in free for download.”

San Francisco, Calif.-based OPSWAT said it collected the information between March 23, 2011 and February 15, 2012. Microsoft, which supplies Security Essentials to Windows users for free of charge, showed the most important gains some time past year, increasing its share from 7.27% a year ago to ten.08% today, OPSWAT said. Meanwhile, Symantec holds the fifth position with 9.97% of the global market.

The top 10 antivirus vendors by market share, in keeping with OPSWAT:

1. AVAST SOFTWARE 16.26%
2. AVIRA GMBH 11.65%
3. AVG TECHNOLOGIES 10.96%
4. MICROSOFT CORP. 10.08%
5. ESET SOFTWARE 10.06%
6. SYMANTEC CORP. 9.97%
7. KASPERSKY LABS 7.75%
8. MCAFEE, INC 4.74%
9. PANDA SOFTWARE 3.77%
10. TREND MICRO, INC. 2.22%

The percentage of the market held by the head 10 vendors was 87.46%, OPSWAT said.

AV is sort of a commodity, said John Strand, an instructor with the SANS Institute and senior security researcher at his consultancy, Black Hills Information Security. Businesses and consumers will need to have it running and updated, but people must also learn safe browsing habits to minimize the chance of a successful attack.

“Think toilet paper. You would like it, anything will do. You won't be picky about how soft it's or what number of fluffy bears were within the commercial,” Strand said. “When it boils right down to what works, there are lots of levels of ‘not working' all of them employ. So i finished fascinated with AV in relation to ‘x product is best than y.'”

In North America, OPSWAT found Symantec leading the antivirus market at the start of 2012 with 16.09%. Microsoft ranked second at 14.92%, followed by AVG, Avast and Trend Micro.

In terms of individual antivirus products, Microsoft Security Essentials holds a robust lead in North America, OPSWAT said. Microsoft Security Essentials was released in 2009. The software provides basic antivirus protection and automatically updates via Windows. In 2010, the software giant extended its free malware protection software to small businesses with as much as 10 PCs. Avast Free Antivirus came in second in North America with a 9.15% market share.

Freely available antivirus software isn't fool-proof, but no security technology is ideal, said Andrew Storms, director of security operations at San Francisco-based vulnerability management vendor nCircle. Storms said consumers and small businesses should make the most of freely available AV protection. Larger organizations need antimalware technology with more robust management features, he said.

“Larger companies require antivirus that's constantly upgraded and has automated management capabilities to minimize a number of the pain for IT,” Storms said. “There's no disagreement that it's not perfect, but there's still some value when it's component to a well-run multifaceted defense-in-depth security strategy.”

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