Top 6 macOS Mojave endpoint protection products

The AV-TEST Institute, a Germany-based independent service provider of IT security and antivirus research, recently tested the six popular, business-focused macOS Mojave 10.14.3 client endpoint protection products on three primary criteria:

• Protection: Detection of 557 samples of widespread and prevalent malware discovered in the last four months.
• Performance: The average influence the product had on computer speed when downloading and installing frequently used applications, launching standard software applications, and copying files locally and over a network.
• Usability: The number of false detections of legitimate software as malware and false warnings given while installing and using legitimate software.  

Each product could earn up to six points in each area with a best possible total score of 18. Only one product achieved that score: Sophos Endpoint. Three others—Bitdefender Endpoint Security, Eset Endpoint Security and F-Secure CP and RDR for Mac 17.5—just missed perfect scores by a half point.

These top antivirus offerings for macOS Mojave are listed below in alphabetical order. The table lists them in ranked order. You can drill down on the full results at The AV-TEST Institute’s website. 

How to use these antivirus test results

Keep in mind that these tests were done in a lab environment. Different enterprise systems with different threat models will see different results for each of the products listed below. In other words, don’t expect that a 100% detection rate in the lab means that a product will detect all antivirus threats on your network. One reason is that it can take days for a newly submitted malware sample to make it into any given antivirus product’s database.

What the AV-TEST results show is which macOS endpoint protection products are consistently the best at the fundamentals of malware detection and have minimal impact on system performance. That makes a good starting point as you evaluate which products work best for your environment.

CSO / IDG

Best macOS Mojave antivirus tools

1. Bitdefender Endpoint Security 4.5

Bitdefender Endpoint Security scored perfectly for protection and usability. It detect all sample malware, and have no false warnings or detections. Performance was a mixed bag. While it exceeded industry averages for most tests, it had significantly higher impact on application download speeds, imposing a 31% slowdown versus an industry average of 7%. That cost it a half point in the performance rating.

2. CrowdStrike Falcon 4.25

Despite having the coolest name of the group, CrowdStrike Falcon had one of lowest scores (5) for performance. It detected every malware sample and gave no false warnings or detections, but its impact on installation of frequently used applications was more than three times the industry average (62% versus 18%). It did perform better than industry average in the other performance tests.

3. Ensil Endpoint Security Platform 3.1

Ensil Endpoint Security Platform had a perfect protection score but fell down hard on one performance test. It slowed the launch of standard software applications by a whopping 192% versus an industry average of 48%. That cost the product two points on its performance rating. It lost a half point on usability by issuing one false warning.

4. Eset Endpoint Security 6.7

Despite losing a half-point on performance, Eset Endpoint Security wasn’t far off from the industry average on most tests. In fact, its impact on launching standard software applications was less than half the industry average. It had perfect scores for protection and usability.

5. F-Secure CP and RDR for Mac 17.5

The only blemish for F-Secure CP and RDR for Mac was a single false malware detection. It was one of the top performers, exceeding the industry average significantly in most categories. For example, it imposed only a 19% slowdown launching standard software applications versus a 48% industry average, and a 3% slowdown when installing frequently used applications versus an 18% industry average.

6. Sophos Endpoint 9.8

Sophos Endpoint was the only product of those tested that had perfect scores in all three categories. It matched or exceeded F-Secure in each performance test and detected all the malware samples. It gave no false warnings or detections.