Best Protection: 100% protection throughout the entire testing period
WithSecure Elements has been awarded the AV-TEST Best Protection Award 2024, achieving a perfect 100% protection score across the entire testing year. It’s the seventh time WithSecure has won the award — each time on the back of 100% protection throughout the awarded year.
That’s ~92,000 malware samples tested in 2024 alone. Zero missed. Twelve months of perfect 6/6 scores. It’s the kind of result that perfectly encapsulating the protective capabilities of Elements XDR and our Elements portfolio as a whole against 0-day malware attacks, inclusive of web and e-mail threats. Rasmus Saxén, Researcher at WithSecure, commented:
We had a perfect score across the entire testing year, meaning not a single malware sample was missed across the two protection testing categories, totaling ~92k test samples. This award underlines that we’re capable of effectively protecting against previously unknown malware, in ways that our customers could normally encounter them.
What the award actually means
AV-TEST is one of the most rigorous independent cybersecurity testing institutes in the world. Their Best Protection Award isn’t handed out for a good quarter — winners must demonstrate the highest detection rates consistently, across two distinct types of malware testing.
Real-world testing evaluates how well a product protects against previously unknown malware — the kind your customers haven’t seen before and your existing rules don’t yet cover. It’s a multi-stage test that simulates how malware actually arrives: via email attachments, web downloads, and other common delivery methods. This is where a lot of products stumble.
Prevalent malware testing uses large collections of widespread, recently discovered malware samples — threats active in the last four weeks. The goal is straightforward: does the product receive timely updates to catch what’s actively circulating right now?
WithSecure Elements scored 6/6 in both categories, every single month of 2024.
A track record, not a one-off
Winning once is an achievement. Winning the Best Protection award seven times — each requiring 100% protection throughout the awarded year — is a pattern.
WithSecure has consistently earned AV-TEST’s Top Product designation in all recent tests, a recognition reserved for products that meet the highest standards across protection, performance, and usability. The Best Protection Award builds on that baseline, going further to identify the products with the highest detection rates across the industry.
Seven wins. Not seven consecutive years — these are hard standards to meet, and we won’t claim otherwise. But every year WithSecure has won, it’s been because not a single sample was missed.
Advanced EDR: Top Performer
WithSecure Elements Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) earned the AV-TEST Approved Advanced EDR certification in the 2024 Advanced EDR Test.
WithSecure Elements Endpoint Detection and Response excelled in our evaluation, showing exceptional performance. In two realistic scenarios, it effectively detected all techniques used by threat actors. The system consistently provided high-quality detection and actionable insights
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Erik Heyland, Division Manager Testing Labs and Test Research, AV-TEST GmbH.
The test assessed real-world threat detection, response speed, usability, and system performance. WithSecure Elements scored highly across all four areas.
- Detection that holds up in the real world
The evaluation tested WithSecure Elements against advanced threats in live scenarios, not controlled conditions. The results confirmed what users already experience in the field — threats identified, contained, and neutralized without the noise of false positives slowing teams down. - Response times that matter
Speed between detection and containment directly affects how much damage an attack can do. WithSecure Elements demonstrated rapid response throughout the test, reducing the window of exposure that attackers depend on. - Built for lean IT teams
The test also assessed usability — and WithSecure Elements delivered. An intuitive interface means security incidents can be managed efficiently without specialist SOC expertise on hand. For midmarket companies running small IT teams, that matters. - Protection without the performance hit
WithSecure Elements maintained high system performance throughout testing, with minimal impact on endpoint resources. For organizations without dedicated IT infrastructure to spare, that balance between protection and performance is non-negotiable.
These results highlight WithSecure Elements’ significant value as a key component in a security infrastructure poised to combat complex and evolving digital threats, and reinforces its position as a premier cyber security solution.
Erik Heyland, Division Manager Testing Labs and Test Research, AV-TEST GmbH.
Why this matters for MSPs
Not all endpoint protection performs equally under independent scrutiny. Effective EDR detects and contains threats before they escalate. Endpoint protection is your first line of defense. It has to hold.
For MSPs, the stakes are high: a missed sample isn’t just a technical failure — it’s a client incident, a late-night call, and a damaged relationship.
Seven perfect AV-TEST scores and a Top Performer in EDR are independent validations that WithSecure Elements does exactly that. Not our claim. Their data.
- Let the results do the talking: When clients ask why they should trust your security stack, a seven-time AV-TEST top performer answer is a stronger close than any brochure. Third-party proof your clients didn’t ask you to produce.
- Protect clients without overloading their infrastructure: Midmarket clients rarely have spare IT capacity. WithSecure Elements delivers enterprise-grade protection with minimal system impact — deployable across your client base without performance trade-offs or infrastructure headaches.
- One less thing to defend: When your endpoint security carries consistent, independently verified results, you spend less time justifying your tooling and more time growing your practice. If you’re evaluating endpoint protection and EDR options, this independent test result gives you something concrete to point to.
See the full results
You can review the full AV-TEST 2024 award details at AV-TEST.org, and access the EDR test report here.
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WithSecure benefits
- Fast, frictionless deployment. Our single-agent setup minimises disruption and delivers effective protection from day one.
- A unified platform that scales with you. Endpoint, identity, cloud, and collaboration security in one place – no unnecessary complexity, no tool sprawl.
- Compliance built in, not bolted on. NIS2, GDPR, and DORA alignment are embedded in the platform, turning regulatory requirements into a competitive advantage.
- Round-the-clock expertise, whenever you need it. Every alert is handled by a security professional who understands the full context of your environment.
- Security grounded in European values. Established in Finland in 1988 and operating fully under EU jurisdiction, our commitment to privacy and trust is structural, not cosmetic.
- From reactive to proactive. Exposure Management and AI-powered threat detection identify and address risks before they become incidents.
- A long-term security partner. We begin with a focused conversation and remain invested in your organisation’s security posture well beyond initial onboarding.
WithSecure combines advanced technology with genuine human expertise to protect what matters most. Whether you are securing a growing business or a complex organisation, we work alongside your team to deliver outcomes that last.