Microsoft Defender disappoints in its ability to work offline, the detection rate of security risks is just over 60%

Until the next appointment, AV-Comparatives, one of the world's most reputable security service evaluation companies, has just released a periodic report evaluating the best anti-virus software products by the end of March 2022. It wouldn't be too remarkable if AV-Comparatives didn't point out that Microsoft Defender has the worst offline risk detection rate on the list, at only 60.3%.

In other words, Microsoft's internal antivirus program mainly implements protection of internet and cloud-based systems. This is really a concern for those who are using this tool as a primary security solution for their systems.

However, the detection rate and online protection of Microsoft Defender is among the top according to AV-Comparatives' assessment. In case you were wondering what the difference is between protection (Malware Protection Test) and detection (File Detection Test) in AV-Comparatives assessment, the basic definition is as follows:

'The File Detection Test, which we run with our in-depth assessments, only tests the ability of security programs to detect a malicious program file. before execution.

[.] The Malware Protection Test process is concerned not only with assessing the malware detection rate, but also testing the protection, i.e. the ability to stop a program malicious program actually make any changes to the system'.

Below is a comparison of the online and offline detection rates and anti-malware protection rates among popular AV-Comparatives antivirus software solutions:

Microsoft Defender disappoints in its ability to work offline, the detection rate of security risks is just over 60% Picture 1

Here is a breakdown of the protection rates of different antivirus programs. A total of 10,040 malicious samples were used by AV-Comparatives for testing:

Microsoft Defender disappoints in its ability to work offline, the detection rate of security risks is just over 60% Picture 2

The results of the full analysis of all AV-Comparatives Malware Protection Test data in March 2022 are as follows:

Microsoft Defender disappoints in its ability to work offline, the detection rate of security risks is just over 60% Picture 3

Overall, Microsoft Defender is still an effective security solution with ADVANCED+ certification from AV-Comparatives. Along with this achievement are a series of other famous security tools such as Avast, AVG, Bitdefender or McAfee. However, as mentioned, users who use Microsoft Defender as an offline security tool may need to reiterate their decision.

Microsoft Defender disappoints in its ability to work offline, the detection rate of security risks is just over 60% Picture 4

What do you think about the results of the above assessment? 

Micah Soto

Update 19 April 2022