PRESS RELEASE

AUSTIN, Texas - NSS Labs, a source for independent fact-based cybersecurity guidance, today announced the results of its Breach Detection Systems (BDS) Group Test. For the 2017 BDS Group Test, NSS Labs expanded test techniques to include new evasions. Evasion techniques are a means of disguising and modifying attacks in order to avoid detection and blocking by security products. These methods are increasingly selected by threat actors to circumvent security controls. Test results indicate that most breach detection systems are unable to stop all evasions, which is a major concern.

According to the Verizon 2017 Data Breach Investigations Report, 75% of data breaches are perpetrated by outsiders. BDS products are now more widely adopted in enterprise security deployments to catch attacks that bypass other perimeter defenses such as next-generation firewalls. The NSS Labs 2017 Enterprise Security Architecture Study indicates that 44.1% of US enterprises deploy BDS products. These products provide enhanced detection of advanced malware, zero-day attacks, and targeted attacks. Data obtained by BDS threat analysis helps to accelerate investigation and remediation, thereby reducing the business impact of threats.

The BDS Group Test reports offer insights into which infection vectors were effective and how long it took for products to detect them. When evaluating breach detection systems, time-to-detect metrics are critical as they directly impact ROI for enterprises.

Seven products from six market-leading security vendors were tested for security effectiveness, performance, stability and reliability, and total cost of ownership (TCO). Of the seven products tested, four received a Recommended rating and two scored 100% for security effectiveness.

Key findings from the test:

“The 2017 BDS Group Test revealed that most products were able to detect the majority of breaches within 60 minutes, but some products took several hours to detect the same breaches,” said Jason Brvenik, Chief Technology Officer at NSS Labs. “To reduce the frequency and impact of security incidents, enterprises must consider the detection rate and the time a product takes to detect attacks.”

The following products were tested:

NSS Labs is committed to providing empirical data and objective group test results that enable organizations to make educated decisions about purchasing and optimizing security infrastructure products and services. As with all NSS Labs group tests, there is no fee for participation, and the test methodology is available in the public domain to provide transparency and to help enterprises understand the factors behind test results. Click here for more information about our group test policies.

Click here for more information on this test, and the test methodology used, or to purchase the individual Test Reports. Click here to download the Security Value Map^™, which provides a graphic comparison of Security Effectiveness and TCO across the tested products.