Philadelphia, PA – August 8, 2011 – The Malware Research Group (MRG), a highly-respected independent internet security research organization, recently announced the results of their most recent flash test, the 68th in a series of tests associated with their Flash Test Project for 2011. The project, which began on January 27th of this year, puts 23 of the world’s top anti-virus engines head-to-head in what are called zero day – early life malware threat tests. These types of tests evaluate an important aspect of anti-virus software – The ability to detect new and unknown viruses that are not identified in the software’s database of malware threats.

The anti-virus engine behind Ascentive’s Spyware Striker Pro, along with those from only a handful of competitors, came away with a passing score, detecting 50 of the 68 zero-day threats assessed to date. Surprisingly, some of the biggest names in security software were also some of the biggest failures. AVG, BitDefender, McAfee, and Microsoft all failed well over half of MRG’s 68 tests. Spyware Striker’s engine also bested engines from Norton and Kaspersky and stood among only a handful of competitors able to detect 70% or more of the threats tested.

This is a big win for companies like Ascentive. Outperforming heavy hitters like McAfee, Norton, and AVG in these types of independent tests are the kinds of results that Ascentive CEO Adam Schran dreams about.

“It’s great to see the anti-virus engine that we use go head-to-head with big name applications from Norton and McAfee and come out ahead,” Said Schran, “Obviously we’re excited the application performed well, but at the end of the day we’re just doing our best do develop easy- to-use software that will protect our customer’s computers from malware and viruses. Great showings in these kinds of tests are just icing on the cake.”