Independent Testing Shows Which Business Security Products Actually Hold Up When It Matters

AV-Comparatives publishes its Business Security Test results for March to June 2026, as ransomware and supply-chain attacks continue to disrupt companies of every size

INNSBRUCK, Austria, July 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — When Iranian-linked hackers breached medical device maker Stryker in March 2026, they did not need a sophisticated zero-day exploit to cause chaos. Once inside, they triggered simultaneous factory resets on more than 200,000 corporate devices across 79 countries, grinding order processing, production and shipping to a halt for days. Two months later, Foxconn confirmed that the Nitrogen ransomware group had stolen an alleged 8 terabytes of data from its North American factories, including project files tied to major technology clients. These are not isolated cases. They are part of a first half of 2026 in which manufacturing, healthcare, government and financial organisations of every size have been hit, often through a single compromised endpoint or a trusted third party.

Against this backdrop, AV-Comparatives, the independent Austria-based testing institute, has published the results of its Business Security Test for March to June 2026, evaluating 16 leading endpoint security products under real-world conditions.

What was tested

The Business Main-Test Series examined how well each product withstood live malware attacks encountered through everyday web use, pre-existing malware introduced via disk or network, and false alarms on both common business software and non-business applications. A dedicated Performance Test also measured the impact each product has on system speed during everyday tasks such as file copying, archiving, application launches and web browsing.

Sixteen vendors took part: Avast, Bitdefender, Cisco, CrowdStrike, Elastic, ESET, G Data, K7, Kaspersky, ManageEngine, Microsoft, Norton, SenseOn, Sophos, Trellix and VIPRE.

Key results

Across 400 real-world test cases collected between March and June, Kaspersky, Bitdefender and Elastic each reached a 99.8 percent protection rate, the strongest results in this round. In the dedicated Malware Protection Test, which used 1,000 recent malware samples, Elastic achieved a perfect 100 percent detection rate, with Avast and Norton close behind at 99.8 percent. Every single product tested recorded zero false alarms on common business software, a result that matters as much to IT administrators as raw detection numbers do.

On system performance, ESET and Kaspersky posted the lowest impact scores in the entire field, meaning day-to-day work on a protected machine was barely affected, while several enterprise-grade EDR platforms aimed at larger organisations traded some speed for deeper investigative capability.

Fifteen of the sixteen tested products met the strict criteria for the AV-Comparatives Approved Business Product Award for July 2026: Avast, Bitdefender, Cisco, CrowdStrike, Elastic, ESET, G Data, K7, Kaspersky, ManageEngine, Microsoft, Norton, SenseOn, Trellix and VIPRE. To qualify, a product needed at least 90 percent in the Malware Protection Test with zero false alarms on business software, at least 90 percent in the four-month Real-World Protection Test, fewer than fifty false alarms on any clean software or website, and an acceptable system performance impact.

Why it matters right now

“The Stryker and Foxconn incidents this year are a reminder that it rarely takes an exotic attack to bring a business to a standstill. A single endpoint left unprotected, or a security product that misses what it should catch, can be enough,” said Andreas Clementi, CEO of AV-Comparatives. “Our Business Security Test exists precisely to give IT decision-makers, from small companies without a dedicated security team to large enterprises with full security operations centres, an independent, evidence-based answer to a very practical question: does this product actually protect my organisation without getting in the way of it?”

The report also addresses a question many organisations are currently weighing: whether Zero Trust features are worth enabling on everyday workstations. AV-Comparatives’ analysis finds that while such features suit tightly controlled environments like kiosk systems well, they often introduce more administrative burden and user disruption than benefit on standard business machines, where built-in Windows protections such as Attack Surface Reduction rules and Controlled Folder Access can offer a more practical balance of security and usability.

The full report, including detailed results, product descriptions and a feature comparison table, is available at
https://av-comparatives.org/tests/business-security-test-2026-march-june 

About AV-Comparatives

AV-Comparatives is the leading independent cybersecurity testing organization, evaluating security solutions that have evolved far beyond traditional antivirus software. Our systematic testing assesses modern endpoint protection, threat detection, and mobile security across PC, Mac, Android, and IoT devices. Using one of the world’s most relevant and sophisticated threat collections, we create real-world testing environments for comprehensive evaluation. Test results are freely accessible worldwide, and AV-Comparatives certification provides a globally recognized seal of approval for proven cybersecurity performance.

www.av-comparatives.org

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