Bitdefender Mobile Security and Antivirus 1.2.3 (for Android)

Bitdefender has consistently scored well at both PCMag and independent testing labs with its desktop products, making it a major name in the AV space. On Android, Bitdefender offers several different apps to secure your phone at different price points (more on this later), but Bitdefender's Mobile Security & Antivirus for Android (14 day free trial, $9.99/year) brings together top-rated anti-malware tools and robust anti-theft capabilities into a single app.

Remarkably lightweight, Bitdefender condenses all of its tools into a single screen. The top is dominated with your current threat level, indicating what actions the app thinks you need to stay safe. The bottom portion lists the available tools: Malware scanner, Application Audit, Web Security, Anti-Theft, and Event Viewer.

Don't be fooled by its feather-light appearance: Bitdefender is a solid security suite that will keep your Android device clean and secure with strong anti-malware protection with unique anti-theft tools.

Anti-Malware and Threat Detection
Most users will probably come to Bitdefender looking for malware protection, especially given the company's strong pedigree in the desktop space. They won't be disappointed: AV-Test March 2013 report said that Bitdefender detected 100 percent of malware in their tests.

That almost seems surprising because Bitdefender's on-demand scanning is so fast that I wasn't entirely sure it was doing anything at all. The developer explained that during a scan, Bitdefender extracts information from only the files that could harm your device?apps, apks, and others?and then performs the analysis on the cloud. It also scans each app as it's downloaded or updated, ensuring that your device is always protected. It also rescans your device when it's connected to a computer. This is all part the developer's stated goal of building a "nimble" app that focuses on actual threats while impacting you, the user, as little as possible.

?With twelve other apps running in the background, Bitdefender took an average of only 10.3 seconds to perform a system scan on a Samsung Galaxy Note II . That's much faster than the other security apps I've reviewed.

Likewise, rebooting the phone with Bitdefender installed took an average of only 25.1 seconds, about as long as it takes to reboot a Note II with other security software running.

With such a low scan time, it was difficult to determine the impact a scan makes on the device. I saw only one slight stutter when playing Minecraft during a scan. With such a fast scan, and no option to even run a scheduled scan, I can safely say that the app has very little impact on the user.

App Removal and Real-Time Protection
As nearly all other Android security apps, Bitdefender automatically scans any new apps loaded onto the device. When loading a suspicious penetration testing app, I noticed that it took two seconds before Bitdefender's warning appeared on the screen. Be careful not to move too fast, or you might launch a dangerous app.

Other apps require you to run a system scan before generating an alert on the security app's main page. However, Bitdefender immediately altered its main page to warn me of the suspicious app before I performed a system scan. Once a threat is identified, Bitdefender makes it easy to uninstall the offending app.

One note: Bitdefender isn't big on providing information about threats. It simply flagged my penetration testing app as malware?which, strictly speaking, it isn't?and dogged me to remove it. If you want to know exactly why your security app is worried, you're better off with TrustGo.

Application Audit
Many security apps give you a tool for quickly looking over your apps' permissions, and Bitdefender answers with Application Audit. This simple tool sorts apps by those that can access the internet, potentially cost you money (in this case, mostly data and messaging fees), or access private information like contacts and account details. Tapping on an app will take you the system settings page where you can uninstall the app.

Weirdly, the Application Audit does not include information about potential threats. For instance, after the app had already identified my penetration testing app as suspicious, it was listed right along with the other apps in the audit.

Web Security
More and more people are interacting with the Internet through their mobile devices instead of desktop computers, prompting most security companies to include a secure browsing ?option in their app. Bitdefender says it defends against phishing, fraud, and other malicious sites, but only supports the default Android browser.

Activating Web security had little effect on load times. Using the default Android browser on a Samsung Galaxy Note II, the Acid 3 test page loaded to 100 in an average of 4.1 seconds.

My complaint with most apps' approach to Web security is the same: that they don't support enough browsers. While some apps, like TrustGo, can boast three supported browsers, most stick to only supporting the stock Android browser. I'd like, at the very least, to see Chrome more widely supported. These are, after all, Android devices.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/s5E80LY9nAk/0,2817,2401811,00.asp

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