Executive Summary

The release of AV-Comparatives’ Consumer Summary Report 2025 arrives at a critical juncture for Singapore’s digital economy. As the nation accelerates its Smart Nation initiative and positions itself as a regional cybersecurity hub, the independent evaluation of consumer security products provides essential guidance for both individuals and organizations navigating an increasingly complex threat landscape.

Top-Rated Products (highest overall performance):

• Avast Free Antivirus
• AVG AntiVirus Free
• Bitdefender Total Security
• ESET HOME Security Essential
• G DATA Total Security
• Kaspersky Premium
• Norton Antivirus Plus

Category Winners:

• Real-World Protection: Norton (Gold), Bitdefender (Silver), Avira/Kaspersky/McAfee (Bronze)
• Malware Protection: Kaspersky (Gold), G DATA (Silver), Bitdefender (Bronze)
• Performance/Low Impact: Avast & AVG (Gold), Norton (Silver), McAfee (Bronze)
• Advanced Threat Protection: Bitdefender & ESET (Gold)
• Fewest False Positives: Kaspersky (Gold), Total Defense (Silver), Bitdefender (Bronze)

The testing evaluated protection against live threats, malware detection, system performance impact, and false alarm rates. The report also includes user-interface reviews assessing ease of installation and use.

The full report is available for free download at av-comparatives.org. These independent tests help consumers choose security software based on objective performance data rather than marketing claims.

Global Findings and Top Performers

AV-Comparatives, an internationally recognized independent testing authority based in Austria, conducted comprehensive evaluations of 19 leading consumer security products throughout 2025. The testing methodology examined real-world protection against live internet threats, malware detection capabilities, resistance to advanced attacks, system performance impact, and false alarm frequency.

Seven products achieved the prestigious Top-Rated Product Award, demonstrating consistently high performance across all categories: Avast Free Antivirus, AVG AntiVirus Free, Bitdefender Total Security, ESET HOME Security Essential, G DATA Total Security, Kaspersky Premium, and Norton Antivirus Plus.

The category-specific awards revealed nuanced strengths among vendors. Norton secured gold in real-world protection, while Kaspersky excelled in both malware protection and minimizing false positives. Avast and AVG jointly earned gold for performance efficiency, and Bitdefender along with ESET led in advanced threat protection.

Singapore’s Unique Cybersecurity Context

Singapore’s position as a global financial center and technology hub creates a distinctive cybersecurity environment. The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) reported notable increases in cyber incidents in recent years, with ransomware, phishing, and business email compromise remaining persistent threats.

Several factors make these findings particularly relevant for Singapore:

High Internet Penetration: With one of the world’s highest internet penetration rates exceeding 90%, Singapore’s population maintains extensive digital footprints across personal and professional spheres. This connectivity creates multiple attack surfaces that require robust protection.

Remote and Hybrid Work: The sustained shift toward flexible work arrangements following the pandemic has blurred the boundaries between corporate and personal computing. Many Singaporeans now use personal devices for work-related tasks, making consumer-grade security solutions a critical component of organizational cybersecurity postures.

Financial Services Concentration: Singapore’s prominence in banking, fintech, and wealth management makes it an attractive target for sophisticated cybercriminals. Consumer security becomes particularly important as threat actors increasingly target individuals to gain access to corporate networks through social engineering and credential theft.

Small Business Ecosystem: Singapore’s economy relies heavily on small and medium enterprises, many of which lack dedicated IT security staff. These businesses often depend on consumer-grade security products, making the quality and effectiveness of such solutions particularly consequential.

Implications for Singaporean Consumers

The AV-Comparatives findings offer several practical insights for Singapore residents:

Protection Against Localized Threats: Singapore has experienced targeted phishing campaigns exploiting local contexts, including scams impersonating government agencies like IRAS, CPF Board, and various ministries. Real-world protection capabilities, where Norton achieved gold recognition, become essential for detecting these locally-adapted threats.

Performance Considerations: In Singapore’s high-speed internet environment, security solutions must provide protection without degrading system performance. The gold awards for Avast and AVG in this category indicate these products successfully balance security and usability on various hardware configurations commonly used in Singapore households.

False Positive Management: For business owners and professionals working from home, false positives can disrupt productivity and create security fatigue. Kaspersky’s gold rating in minimizing false alarms suggests it may be particularly suitable for users who cannot afford unnecessary interruptions to legitimate activities.

Cost-Effectiveness: The inclusion of free solutions like Avast Free Antivirus and AVG AntiVirus Free among top-rated products demonstrates that effective protection need not require significant financial investment. This is particularly relevant for price-conscious consumers and students in Singapore.

Corporate and SME Considerations

While the AV-Comparatives report focuses on consumer products, its findings have significant implications for Singapore’s business community:

BYOD Security: Many Singapore companies have adopted Bring Your Own Device policies. The security posture of personal devices directly impacts corporate network security. Organizations should consider recommending or requiring employees to use top-rated consumer security solutions as a baseline protection measure.

Supply Chain Security: Small vendors and contractors often connect to larger corporate networks. Ensuring these smaller entities maintain adequate endpoint security helps protect the entire business ecosystem. The availability of highly-rated free solutions reduces barriers to adoption.

Compliance Requirements: Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) requires organizations to implement reasonable security arrangements to protect personal data. For SMEs without enterprise security budgets, consumer-grade solutions that have demonstrated effectiveness in independent testing can help meet these obligations.

Budget Allocation: The performance data enables more informed procurement decisions. Businesses can evaluate whether premium products justify their cost compared to well-performing free alternatives, allowing more efficient allocation of limited cybersecurity budgets.

Regional Cybersecurity Hub Implications

Singapore’s ambition to serve as ASEAN’s cybersecurity hub adds another dimension to these findings:

Standards and Best Practices: As Singapore develops regional cybersecurity frameworks and guidelines, independent testing data from organizations like AV-Comparatives provides evidence-based foundations for recommendations. The CSA and other agencies can reference such objective assessments when advising both consumers and businesses.

Vendor Ecosystem: Singapore hosts offices and operations for many global cybersecurity vendors. The report’s findings may influence vendor strategies, partnerships, and resource allocation in the region. Companies that performed well may increase their Singapore presence and marketing efforts.

Educational Initiatives: Singapore’s cybersecurity awareness programs, including those targeting students and seniors, can leverage these findings to provide specific, actionable guidance rather than generic security advice. Knowing which solutions actually perform well in rigorous testing enhances the credibility and effectiveness of educational campaigns.

Trust in Digital Services: As Singapore expands digital government services and encourages digital payment adoption, consumer confidence in personal cybersecurity becomes essential. Independent validation of security products helps build this confidence by demonstrating that effective, accessible protection exists.

Specific Threat Landscape Considerations

Singapore faces particular cybersecurity challenges that make the report’s detailed findings especially valuable:

Banking Trojans and Financial Malware: With Singapore’s sophisticated banking sector and high rates of digital banking adoption, malware designed to steal financial credentials poses significant risks. The malware protection category, where Kaspersky, G DATA, and Bitdefender excelled, directly addresses this threat.

Phishing and Social Engineering: Scammers have increasingly targeted Singaporeans with sophisticated phishing attempts, including WhatsApp scams, fake parcel delivery notifications, and fraudulent job offers. Real-world protection capabilities test security products against these actual attack vectors.

Ransomware: While often associated with corporate targets, ransomware increasingly affects individuals and small businesses. Advanced threat protection capabilities, where Bitdefender and ESET received gold recognition, are critical for detecting and blocking ransomware before encryption occurs.

Mobile-to-Desktop Threats: Singapore’s mobile-first population often moves between mobile and desktop environments. While the current report focuses on Windows security, understanding desktop protection helps users develop comprehensive security strategies across their device ecosystems.

Recommendations for Singapore Users

Based on the AV-Comparatives findings and Singapore’s specific context, several recommendations emerge:

Home Users: Consider Avast or AVG for their combination of strong protection and minimal system impact, particularly important for older devices. These free solutions provide top-rated protection without financial barriers.

Home-Based Professionals: Norton or Bitdefender may be preferable due to their strong real-world protection and balanced performance across categories. The investment in paid solutions may be justified by reduced risk of business disruption.

Small Businesses: ESET or Bitdefender’s advanced threat protection capabilities align well with the sophisticated threats facing Singapore businesses. These solutions provide enterprise-grade detection while remaining accessible to organizations without dedicated security teams.

Budget-Conscious Users: The top-rated status of free solutions from Avast and AVG demonstrates that financial constraints need not compromise security. These products performed comparably to paid alternatives across rigorous testing.

Performance-Sensitive Environments: Users with older hardware or those running resource-intensive applications should prioritize products with gold ratings in the performance category to avoid system slowdowns that might tempt users to disable security features.

Limitations and Considerations

While the AV-Comparatives report provides valuable insights, Singapore users should consider several contextual factors:

Windows-Specific Testing: The report evaluates Windows security products, but Singapore’s diverse device ecosystem includes macOS, iOS, Android, and Linux systems. Users should seek comparable testing data for other platforms.

Evolving Threat Landscape: Testing conducted throughout 2025 reflects that year’s threat environment. Singapore’s threat landscape continues evolving, particularly as cybercriminals develop new techniques to exploit local contexts and trust relationships.

Feature Differences: Products vary in additional features beyond core protection, including VPN services, password managers, parental controls, and identity theft protection. Users should evaluate these supplementary features based on individual needs.

Regional Support: Product performance in testing may not reflect local customer support quality, documentation availability in local languages, or responsiveness to region-specific threats. Singapore users should consider vendor presence and support capabilities in the region.

Enterprise vs. Consumer: Organizations should recognize that consumer products, even highly-rated ones, may lack centralized management, deployment tools, and reporting capabilities required for business environments. Larger organizations typically require enterprise endpoint protection platforms.

Integration with Singapore’s Cybersecurity Ecosystem

The AV-Comparatives findings complement Singapore’s existing cybersecurity initiatives:

SG Cyber Safe Programme: This national movement to help organizations and individuals be secure online can incorporate evidence-based product recommendations derived from independent testing, enhancing the practical impact of awareness campaigns.

ScamShield and Anti-Scam Measures: While specialized tools like ScamShield address specific threat vectors, comprehensive security solutions provide additional layers of protection. Top-rated products can work alongside these Singapore-specific tools.

Cybersecurity Labelling Scheme: Singapore’s CLS provides security ratings for smart home devices. The AV-Comparatives methodology demonstrates how transparent, rigorous testing builds consumer trust and informed decision-making, potentially informing future iterations of the CLS.

SkillsFuture and Cybersecurity Education: As Singapore invests in cybersecurity skills development, understanding how to evaluate and select security products based on objective testing represents practical knowledge that complements technical training.

Looking Forward

As Singapore continues its digital transformation, the cybersecurity of individual devices and users becomes increasingly critical to national resilience. The AV-Comparatives Consumer Summary Report 2025 provides evidence-based guidance at a time when Singaporeans face increasingly sophisticated threats.

The availability of multiple top-rated products, including free options, demonstrates that effective cybersecurity protection is accessible to all segments of Singapore’s population. This democratization of security aligns with Singapore’s vision of an inclusive digital society where all residents can safely participate in the digital economy.

For Singapore to maintain its position as a trusted digital hub, cybersecurity must extend beyond corporate networks and government systems to encompass the millions of personal devices that connect to these critical infrastructures. Independent testing from organizations like AV-Comparatives helps ensure that the security products protecting these devices actually deliver on their promises.

Singapore users, businesses, and policymakers should view this report not as a definitive answer but as one valuable input into ongoing cybersecurity decision-making. Combined with awareness of local threats, understanding of specific needs, and commitment to security best practices, the insights from rigorous independent testing contribute to a more secure digital Singapore.

Conclusion

The AV-Comparatives Consumer Summary Report 2025 arrives at a pivotal moment for Singapore’s cybersecurity landscape. As cyber threats grow in sophistication and impact, the independent validation of security products provides Singaporeans with the information needed to protect their digital lives effectively.

The identification of seven top-rated products, along with detailed category performance data, enables consumers and businesses to select solutions aligned with their specific requirements and risk profiles. For Singapore’s Smart Nation vision to succeed, cybersecurity must be both effective and accessible—qualities demonstrated by the top performers in this comprehensive evaluation.

As Singapore continues strengthening its position as a regional cybersecurity leader, leveraging independent, transparent testing data will be essential for building trust, informing policy, and ensuring that the nation’s digital infrastructure rests on a foundation of well-protected endpoints and informed users.