Independent testing across 16 security vendors confirms Elastic Security leads on prevention, accuracy, and performance
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Elastic (NYSE: ESTC), the Search AI Company, today announced that Elastic Security earned the only 100% malware protection score among 16 security vendors in the AV-Comparatives 2026 Business Security Test, covering the March–June 2026 test period. Elastic Security also tied for the highest score in the Real-World Protection Test with a 99.8% protection rate and earned the AV-Comparatives Approved Business Product Award.
The AV-Comparatives Business Security Test is one of the industry's most rigorous independent evaluations, running on fully patched Windows 11 across two distinct test disciplines. The Malware Protection Test simulates on-disk and LAN-delivered threats across 1,000 recent malware samples, while the Real-World Protection Test replicates active browsing-based threats such as malicious URLs, drive-by exploits, and socially engineered downloads across 400 test cases run continuously over four months. Together, they measure whether enterprise security products can catch threats at every stage without generating noise that buries security teams.
Elastic Security blocked all 1,000 malware samples in the Malware Protection Test (the only vendor in the field to do so) and stopped 399 of 400 threats in the Real-World Protection Test, tying with Kaspersky and Bitdefender for the highest score in that test. Both results were achieved with zero false alarms on common business software, the accuracy threshold AV-Comparatives requires for certification.
"Security teams are measured against the impossible standard to stop everything, slow nothing, alert only on what matters," said Mike Nichols, general manager, Security at Elastic. "These results from AV-Comparatives confirm that Elastic meets that standard in independent, unfiltered testing. It achieved the only perfect malware protection score in the field, top-tier real-world coverage, and zero false alarms on the software businesses actually run."
At the core of these results is Elastic Defend, the native endpoint protection layer inside Elastic Security. Elastic Security unifies endpoint protection, SIEM, investigation, response, and automation on a single platform and can ingest telemetry from third-party tools already in use across an organization. It deploys in connected, restricted-network, and fully air-gapped environments, with security content distributed over internal infrastructure where direct internet access is unavailable. For organizations that run unusual internal tooling, Elastic's centralized policy management, trusted application lists, and endpoint exceptions provide the controls to tune detection to their environment.
Additional Materials
- Blog: Elastic leads the latest AV-Comparatives Malware Protection Test with a perfect score
- Report: AV-Comparatives 2026 Business Security Test
- Elastic Security product page: elastic.co/security
About Elastic
Elastic (NYSE: ESTC), the Search AI Company, integrates its deep expertise in search technology with artificial intelligence to help everyone transform all of their data into answers, actions, and outcomes. Elastic's Search AI Platform — the foundation for its search, observability, and security solutions — is used by thousands of companies, including more than 50% of the Fortune 500. Learn more at elastic.co.
Elastic and associated marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of elasticsearch B.V. and its subsidiaries. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
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