It is estimated that more than five billion people use the Internet today, accounting for 63.5 percent of the total world population. From an organization's standpoint, this Internet penetration helps them to find global talent, reach out to a global consumer base, and scale well to make the most of new opportunities.
Here is our list of the best business antivirus tools:
- CrowdStrike Falcon One of the top endpoint protection tools available today, making it the best overall business antivirus.
- Webroot SecureAnywhere A lightweight antivirus that excels for small businesses, making it the best choice for small enterprises.
- Norton 360 A comprehensive antivirus solution packed with features to provide extensive coverage, offering the most comprehensive protection.
- TrendMicro OfficeScan Provides thorough endpoint security for all employee devices, including smartphones and tablets, and is known for the best technical support.
- Bitdefender GravityZone An automated antivirus solution offering extensive protection for businesses of all sizes, providing the best value for money.
Undoubtedly, this rate of Internet penetration is beneficial, but at the same time, it also means more opportunities for cybercriminals to steal and misuse your organization's sensitive information. In particular, cyber threats are a cause of worry for organizations as sensitive information in the wrong hands can cause financial, legal, and reputational loss. The good news is there is a slew of tools and technologies that help your business leverage only the benefits while keeping the downside at bay.
One such tool is antivirus, a program that detects and removes any malicious code or program that cybercriminals may use to steal your personal information from your device. As of 2022, the antivirus market is estimated to be worth more than four billion USD, and this reflects its widespread use.
That said, there are hundreds of antivirus tools available today to cater to the growing needs of the people. As a user, it could be confusing and overwhelming. To help you through this situation and help you identify the right antivirus tool, we scoured through hundreds of free and paid antivirus tools to pick the best ones for you.
We selected the best tools based on the following factors:
- Compatibility with most popular devices and operating systems.
- Automatic updates
- Easy to download, install, and use.
- Technical support
- Minimal impact on performance
- Ability to identify known and unknown threats.
- Automatic deletion and quarantine when viruses are detected.
- Transparent billing.
Based on these factors, our experts tested different antivirus tools and came up with a list that scores well on all the above fronts.
The Best Business Antivirus Tools
Read on for a quick review of each of these tools, so you can find the best fit for your organization.
1. CrowdStrike Falcon – Best Overall Business Antivirus
CrowdStrike Falcon is one of the best endpoint protection tools available today. Its antivirus capabilities are top-notch, as they are powered by machine learning algorithms that continuously identify cyberattack patterns. With this feature, Falcon stays one step ahead of cybercriminals to detect both known and unknown attacks, and effectively block them before they enter your network. Its integrated threat analysis also provides the context for each of these attacks, so you can take appropriate steps to block the IPs or locations in the future. Falcon also comes with behavioral analysis to proactively mitigate threats before they impact your organization.
Another advantage is that Falcon is highly flexible and scalable. This means you can extend Falcon to any device, location, or infrastructure, and it can also keep pace with your growing business. In particular, it's one of the few antivirus services that provide overarching support for macOS devices.
Besides, Falcon continuously scans your network and throws up vulnerabilities as they emerge. This feature helps your security teams to close security gaps before they are used by cybercriminals. It is fast and easy to deploy as well, and supports the centralized management of all activities. It even stores all scans and endpoint activity for 90 days and generates a wide range of reports on demand. Its unified agent helps you to take a peek at all this information through a single dashboard.
Pros:
- Intuitive dashboard
- Up and running in the background always, so no VPN connections or effort is required
- Real-time information
- Highly scalable
Cons:
- The correlation of data can be better
- No integration with Active Directory
- Console outlay can be less-cluttered
Pricing
CrowdStrike Falcon comes in four editions:
- Falcon PRO Ideal for replacing legacy antivirus and includes threat intelligence and reporting capabilities. $8.99/endpoint/month.
- Falcon Enterprise A unified Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) and Next-Gen Antivirus (NGAV) for extensive protection. $15.99/edition/month.
- Falcon Elite A complete endpoint and identity protection tool. Custom pricing.
- Falcon Complete A fully managed 24X7 protection for your on-premises and cloud endpoints. Custom pricing.
In all, CrowdStrike Falcon is a comprehensive and advanced business antivirus tool that provides extensive protection against known and emerging threats.
Click here to start a free trial.
2. Webroot SecureAnywhere – Best Antivirus for Small Business
Webroot SecureAnywhere is a lightweight antivirus that works well for small businesses. Specifically, it takes up little space on the drive, its virus definitions are stored in the cloud and can install within seconds. Also, you can secure up to three devices with a single subscription. All these aspects make Webroot a good choice for small businesses and startups with limited capacities.
At the same time, there's no compromise whatsoever on the features or the protection it offers. Webroot is well-suited for scanning USB devices, registry startup, and manual or scheduled scans of your entire device. Furthermore, its smart firewall monitoring identifies phishing and other malware in real-time and blocks them. Immediately, it also sends notifications along with other relevant information such as the source of the attack, so you can take the necessary steps to plug your security gaps. This contextual information can also come in handy to take proactive action like geo-fencing to protect your infrastructure from similar attacks in the future. The best part is SecureAnywhere provides extensive information, so you don't need an elaborate security team to handle these threats.
Moreover, it streamlines your operations by integrating with other remote monitoring, automation, report generation, and business intelligence tools.
It even offers security awareness training to reduce risky employee behavior.
Pros:
- Comes with a large malware database that covers the most known threats
- Good protection against ransomware
- Compatible with most platforms
- Affordable
Cons:
- No phone or live chat support
- Many lab tests are mixed
- Can be more customizable
Pricing
Webroot SecureAnywhere for five devices starts at $59.99/year.
In all, Webroot SecureAnywhere is a secure and affordable antivirus tool geared for small businesses with limited resources.
Click here for a free trial.
3. Norton 360 – Most Comprehensive Protection
Norton 360 is a comprehensive antivirus solution that comes loaded with many features to provide the coverage you need. A highlight of this product is that it offers multiple layers of security to protect your device and network from unauthorized intrusion. It also works well across a wide range of devices including Windows, macOS, tablets, and mobile devices.
Norton 360's comprehensive capabilities protect your device from malware, phishing, ransomware, and other forms of malicious content. It also keeps your information secure when your employees communicate through the Internet, thanks to its bank-grade encryption. Similarly, its VPN service enables your employees to securely connect to your network.
Plus, Norton 360 includes a wide range of additional tools. Its PC Cloud Backup, for example, keeps your data safe in the event of a loss due to stolen devices or even ransomware. Furthermore, it offers a password manager that securely stores and manages all passwords in a single location.
Other features such as its online threat protection protect your confidential information from unauthorized access. Likewise, the smart firewall monitors all communications to ensure that no malicious packet enters your network.
Pros:
- Rich and comprehensive features
- Fast and intuitive mobile app
- Protects against all forms of malicious content
- Scores high in independent third-party lab tests
Cons:
- No free or trial version
- Paid versions are expensive
- Uses many tabs, which can be a bit frustrating
Pricing
Norton 360 comes in three editions:
- Norton 360 Standard Protection for three devices only and comes with free 2 GB cloud backup. Priced at $89.99.
- Norton 360 Deluxe A single subscription covers five devices. It comes with a privacy monitor and free 50 GB cloud backup. Priced at $109.99.
- Norton 360 Premium A single subscription is valid for ten devices. It also offers free 100 GB cloud backup. Priced at $129.99.
Overall, Norton 360's features cover multiple security aspects, thereby making it highly comprehensive.
Click here to buy Norton 360.
4. TrendMicro OfficeScan – Best Technical Support
TrendMicro's OfficeScan provides comprehensive endpoint security for all employee devices, including smartphones and tablets. A highlight of this tool is its advanced and friendly customer and technical support. You can reach out to the technical team through phone, live chat, or email, and you'll get a response almost immediately. You also have the option to raise tickets and follow up on them, if that suits you better.
Other than this technical support, OfficeScan leverages the power of machine learning to identify and eliminate security gaps in your infrastructure. It also continuously learns and adapts to the changing environment, and also shares threat intelligence across the entire network. Such a unified approach ensures that threats are detected before they impact your network.
OfficeScan is also an essential part of Trend Micro's security suite of products that includes Data Loss Prevention (DLP), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR), intrusion prevention, and more. You can deploy OfficeScan on-premises or as a SaaS, depending on your organization's needs. This flexibility in deployment can come in handy for many scenarios.
Pros:
- Easy to set up and manage
- Excellent customer support
- Supports real-time scanning
- Lightweight
Cons:
- The user interface can be better
- Generating reports is not easy
- Doesn't work well for multiple users
Pricing
Reach out to one of Trend Micro's partners for more information.
In all, TrendMicro's OfficeScan is a good choice if you're looking for top-notch technical support in an antivirus solution. Its advanced capabilities block viruses and other malicious content from infecting your network.
Click here for a free trial.
5. Bitdefender GravityZone – Best Value for Money
Bitdefender Gravityzone is a fully automated antivirus solution that provides comprehensive protection for businesses of all sizes. It is highly effective in protecting your organization from viruses, malware, ransomware, trojans, and other types of cyberattacks.
It offers a single console using which you can protect your servers, workstations, and other devices, so your admins have comprehensive control and visibility into any security gaps. Furthermore, Bitdefender Gravityzone can also be installed remotely on any device, and this adds to its ease of use as well.
Bitdefender Gravityzone comes with many other great features too. Its standalone VPN enables your employees to safely connect to your device, while its password manager keeps your sensitive credentials safe from unauthorized users. A highlight of this tool is its anti-theft features that work well on Windows devices. For context, most well-known anti-theft devices are suitable for mobile devices only.
Its firewall is highly comprehensive and keeps at bay many known and unknown threats from reaching your network. Location tracking, geofencing, email breach monitoring, and mobile apps are other salient features that can greatly enhance the security of your business.
The best part is you get all these features at an affordable cost, and this is what makes Bitdefender Gravityzone a great value for your money.
Pros:
- Highly intuitive and friendly user interface
- Customizable controls
- Excellent malware protection
- Affordable
Cons:
- In the lower plans, VPN is limited to 200 MB a day
- No emergency access service
- Some features like password manager are basic
Pricing
Bitdefender Gravityzone costs $258.99 for 10 devices for a year. You can also include three servers in this plan.
In all, Gravityzone comes loaded with many features and customizable controls at an affordable cost, making it a cost-effective option for businesses of all sizes.
Final Thoughts
To conclude, antivirus solutions are essential for your business today, given the growing number of cyberattacks and the financial and reputational repercussions that come with them. However, choosing an antivirus solution is not easy given the many choices available today. This is why we combined our research and experience with users' opinions to present five of the best solutions available today. We hope this information comes in handy while choosing an antivirus solution that fits your organization's needs.
For more detailed guides, look through www.ittsystems.com.