Bake-Off: Security Rivals Face Off

The powers that be decided to take the company private and rebrand it as a security vendor. Why should any of that matter? For VARs it could prove to be a big deal: By becoming a private security solutions company, Panda is now turning to the channel to fuel its success.

Test Center engineers evaluated the newly released Panda Internet Security 2008. The product truly fits the bill when it comes to desktop security suites, which is why it beat out its rivals to win the top spot. Users will find antivirus, antispam and antispyware included and managed by a single management console. What's more, the product includes a backup application and a system performance optimizer. The backup application uses a remote/hosted backup service, which offers 1 Gbyte of storage to users for the first year at no charge.

Panda Internet Security 2008 is available either on CD or as a download from Panda's Web site. Test Center engineers downloaded the latest version of the product, which is available either for purchase or as a 30-day free trial.

The product installs from a single file and is wizard-driven. Like the other products featured here, Panda offers a simple, guided install that can speed along with default settings or lets the installer tweak options along the way. That said, Panda gets the nod for easiest installation. While its peers sport fine installation routines, they also added some unnecessary complexity to the process. For consistency, engineers went with a standard installation.

Panda's focus on security is exemplified by the installation process. As part of the installation, a spyware scan is initiated. Panda was the only product to actively detect and repair a spyware-infected cookie during the installation process, which occurred on what was thought to be a clean system image that was only connected to the Internet to download the Panda product.

The installation program also asks for permission before allowing the application to actively contact Panda about local virus or malware activity, which allows users to choose whether or not to be involved in the company's security reporting. A reboot is required after installation and the product automatically updates to the latest version once rebooted.

Panda Internet Security offers three key features that give it an edge over its competitors: the above-mentioned integrated backup capability, the standard inclusion of three licenses and a patented technology called TruPrevent.

TruPrevent stops zero-day attacks in their tracks. It is a technology that looks for malicious activity based upon behavior and not a signature file. That allows Panda Internet Security to bring a higher level of protection to the desktop PC.

Ease of use is an important consideration for desktop security suites. After all, if a product is hard to set up and use, then it is more likely to be used improperly—a disaster in the making, especially when it comes to protecting a system from malware. Here, Panda's clean interface makes proper setup a snap. Concise menus and clear explanations make navigating the product's interface intuitive and informative. A dashboard-style screen gives users a quick look into their system's security, while drill-down capabilities will please the tweakers in the audience. Still, engineers found that Panda is outdone by Kaspersky when it comes to ease of use. With Panda, some options are not clearly defined, while other capabilities may require user intervention to configure completely.

The product also includes antiphising, antirootkit, parental controls and a bidirectional firewall, which all contribute to making a desktop system a fortress against most any attack.

The product's performance was impressive: a complete system scan took only 3 minutes, 15 seconds to go through 47,624 identified objects, the speediest among the three offerings examined here. What's more, the product seemed to introduce very little overhead on the test virtual machine. That system scored an average PassMark score of 370.2 after three tests before installation of Panda's product. After installation and configuration of the security suite, the average PassMark score dipped to 365.5, a negligible drop that put Panda second among its peers in terms of performance impact on the virtual machine. Panda Internet Security carries a list price of $69.95, including 12 months of service and updates. As with most desktop security products, Panda Internet Security 2008 is available via direct and indirect channels, including retail, which does limit the potential for partners to sell the product profitably. Panda does offer a partner portal that allows VARs to participate in renewals, upgrades and initial sales for their customers. System builders may want to consider bundling the trial version of Panda Internet Security on their customers' systems and then offering discounted upgrades to Panda's business-specific products, which include server-based security products, security services and management options. The company does offer direct upgrades from Panda Internet Security 2008 to its BusinessSecure product, which can be handled by authorized partners looking to roll network-based security into their customers' sites.

Next: Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6.0