Microsoft: free Security Essentials is a threat to Symantec
By Stuart Turton
Posted on 29 Sep 2009 at 14:59
Microsoft has released its free antivirus package, dubbed Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE), as it looks to spread online security to even the most blasé of internet users.
In an interview with Cliff Evans, head of security and privacy, and Julia Owen, Windows Client product manager, we discuss the implications for the security industry, and whether commercial antivirus companies have anything to be afraid of.
Q A Symantec spokesperson told PC Pro that the antivirus industry had already moved beyond the protection offered by MSE. How do you respond to that?
Cliff Evans It is true the entire industry is shifting in terms of what it's doing. Microsoft Security Essentials does the normal signature stuff, but it also does a tremendous amount of heuristics and behavioural stuff. I'm not sure they're aware that's exactly what MSE does. It's not some kind of substandard free product, it's a high-quality anti-malware product comparable to the packages from Symantec and co.
Q Would you describe MSE as a threat to Symantec and its rivals?
Cliff Evans It's certainly the case that people will consider uninstalling the product they have and installing Microsoft Security Essentials, so to that extent it does represent a threat to commercial antivirus packages.
But the bulk of the money being made in the security industry is through business-related products, the consumer side has very much become a commodity and there are many other vendors providing free software. It's different because Microsoft's doing it, but that [gaining market share] is not the main thrust of what we're trying to do. We're trying to ensure that everybody has an up-to-date antivirus product.
Q Given how much malware propagates in the third world, is that objective really served by only offering MSE to people with legitimate copies of Windows?
Julia Owen On a worldwide basis, if you look at where the hotspots are for malware, you're right it is in third-world countries. Those people might be buying this software in good faith, and be unaware that it's counterfeit and this is one way they'll be alerted to that.
Often pirated software ships with malware. It's a vicious circle: the pirated software installs the malware on people's PCs and then those infected PCs spread malware to other PCs. So cutting down the amount of pirated software isn't just good for us as a business, it's very good for improving the security ecosystem around the Windows platform.
Cliff Evans Just to turn our attention to the UK, we work closely with Get Safe Online and it conducted a recent survey which found that only 50% of people had up-to-date anti-malware, so there's a lot of work to be done here.
From around the web
No more of a threat than AVG or AVIRA etc.
The real threat is if Microsoft's anti-virus is better.
By cheysuli on 29 Sep 2009 
XP Mode
Did anyone else notice this from the sys reqs
"Microsoft Security Essentials also supports Windows XP Mode in Windows 7."
Wasn't there an AV vendor bashing MS over XP mode last week?
By iwilson on 30 Sep 2009
"Wasn't there an AV vendor bashing MS over XP mode last week?"
There was but his arguments made no sense. Apparently he felt companies would not maintain both XP and W7 on one machine because of the doubled workload. Probably true but what did he suggest? Buy 2 machines instead? Forget W7? Nope - no suggestion of a way forward.
By AdrianB on 30 Sep 2009
No way is Microsoft a threat to Symantec
No, I don’t think that Microsoft Security Essentials is a threat to Symantec. A major part of Symantec’s business is security. Microsoft is only producing this product on the side and to generate some good PR. I agree that Microsoft’s Security Essentials is no bigger of a threat than AVG or Avira.
I think Microsoft’s approach is good idea. Anyone without anti-virus /anti spyware software should consider installing it. In my opinion if you have a paid for product (from any company) stick with it.
Microsoft Security Essentials only updates up to a maximum of 3 times a day. Symantec Internet Security 2010 updates its definitions every 5 – 15 minutes and performs a full update (of all its components e.g. Intrusion prevention signatures, anti-spam definitions etc (as necessary)) every hour. The 2009 version performed this full update every 8 hours. Internet Security 2010 has advanced behavioural technology, aka SONAR 2 and the Quorum reputation based scanner, while Microsoft Security Essentials only has basic protection called Dynamic Signature Service (DSS).
Also, I would like to see Microsoft Security Essentials RAM usage when idle. Symantec Internet Security 2010’s RAM footprint of 10 MB is lowest I have seen. Don’t just take my word for it; consult the PDF at
http://www.passmark.com/AVReport
for the full details. According to this report, only Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 came close at 20.01 MB. Symantec is going to take some beating on that front.
Also, how much time does that Microsoft Security Essentials add to boot time? How fast is it scanning your entire computer? How much time does it add to when you are copying files from one place to another? How much time does it add when trying to load a webpage when you are browsing the net? These are all areas where Symantec latest 2010 product performs exceptionally well.
I doubt Microsoft can beat Symantec at something it has been many years working on. Remember Microsoft is just doing Microsoft Security Essentials as a sideline.
By Jimbo762 on 30 Sep 2009
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