Bitdefender has won the ‘Product of the Year’ award from the AV-Comparatives independent analysis firm after securing a near perfect security test rating.

In eight of nine AV-Comparatives tests throughout 2012, Bitdefender scored a perfect three stars, while in the ninth test, the company scored two out of three, covering issues from malware removal to anti-phishing results to file detection and real world performance.

“Bitdefender took the lead in the industry with a very effective mix of signature-based detection and behavioural detection,” says Andreas Clementi, AV-Comparatives CEO.

“Bitdefender software is powerful stuff - and this was shown in test after test. Bitdefender clearly deserves this award.”

The anti-virus company says the award further widens their lead over the global anti-virus industry after it won the ‘Top Rated of the Year’ Award for 2011 from AV-Comparatives and the ‘Best Protection 2011’ from AV-TEST.

Viorel Canja, head of Bitdefender Labs, credited Bitdefender’s success of the past two years to a combination of the staff’s lengthy experience in the field and the company’s emphasis on agility in responding to new threats.

Canja believes the pace of development of malware and other e-threats is accelerating, leaving little room in the industry for slower antivirus technologies.

“The secret to our success is that a good mix of the automatized processes and human resources allows us to respond really quickly to all new threats,” Canja said.

“Another key element is our flexible technology.

"We’ve developed and constantly improved over more than 15 years, and this depth of experience and history allows us to be proactive in the detection process.”