Recent ESET IS tests and the future of EIS

[PassingBy 5]

Hello,

I am a new member of the ESET SF and i am testing a couple of AV suites after leaving KIS for various reasons.

I premise i do not mean to provoke or stir any harsh debate and that my questions are genuinely security related. For a variety of reasons i need a genuinely safe AV suite.

I am prone to get ESET because it allows for a very high granularity of customization but some of the tests i am seeing and the answers i get are not very convincing. I am aware that there is no such a thing as a 100% safe AV and i am aware of the fact that users should have a backup but those observations are not providing answers to key questions. In particular, my curiosity focuses on the following questions:

1) ESET seems to let some threats pass through when other suites do not. What could a possible explanation for this be? The gossip is that "ESET does not have real zero day malware protection" (That would be LiveGRID). Others claim that the HIPS firewall is too complicated to use and not entirely automated (I find it pretty easy to use, especially considering ESET directions on how to tweak it are fairly clear). I have gone through all of the posts in this and other forums and i do not seem to find a satisfactory answer. Some users are on the "emotional" side. Responses from ESET are not really convincing.

2) Is ESET planning for changes in future versions of the suite aimed at filling those gaps emerging from these various tests (AV comparatives indicates a slight decrease in efficiency as well), or the theory is still that the suit is fine and that, from ESET's perspective, there is no need for specific changes? I would like to buy a 3 years subscription knowing that, in principle, the situation will improve, rather than worsen as it is now.

3) I have tweaked ESET according to ESET's directions (this includes manual HIPS rules, with the sole change done being duplication of those rules for Office 2013 and 2016). If i were to run the same tests we have seen around, would my PC be protected or those threats would still pass through the protection?

I have to reiterate i am overall happy about the suite (except for the flood of notifications from the firewall that often hinder productivity and the slow scans), so this is not a complaint or a negative review. I am extremely impressed at how fast the PC runs with ESET in, but i am less convinced by the detection rates and the capacity to stop zero-day threats and malware (based on official and non official reviews, with the software working with default settings and a bit tweaked).  Rather an hope to see a professional feedback from ESET people that is not a "marketing mitigating" statements, but a rational, structured answer.

Thanks in advance

Rick

[Marcos 5,070]

Without verifying particular tests on our side it's impossible to comment on it. For business users we provide quick response to new threats via ESET Dynamic Threat Defense which means instant analysis of suspicious files in ESET's cloud EDTD sandbox and evaluating samples utilizing other mechanisms, such as Augur, the machine learning system.

As you correctly stated, there's nothing like 100% protection. Also for that reason we provide ESET Enterprise Inspector to monitor suspicious operations in networks and to identify possible weak points that might lead to compromise or infection in the future.

Please contact me via a personal message and provide details about the issues you've found so that we can check it out ourselves and comment on it.

[galaxy 11]

As a more efficient user, I can only say I've never had a pest on my pc

[PassingBy 5]

I am really glad to know that you are a very efficient user. But my post is aimed at understanding whether i can use ESET as a daily security driver in a pretty unfriendly environment. I can't use you as my antivirus. And sometimes it's not a matter of you being "efficient", rather a matter of surrounding environment being hostile, or you getting unwanted attentions. But i am glad that you let us know that you are a virtuous user. Merry Christmas.

Edited December 27, 2018 by PassingBy