Antivirus test labs call out Chinese security company as cheat

Chinese antivirus firm Qihoo 360 Technology today was censured by three major testing organizations for cheating on the evaluations.

The three antivirus testing labs — AV‐Comparatives, AV‐TEST and Virus Bulletin, of Austria, Germany and the U.K., respectively — stripped Qihoo of all awarded certifications and rankings for this year. They will also put in place controls to make sure that Qihoo or others cannot “game” the tests in the future.

Qihoo denied the charges, saying they were “without merit.”

Qihoo 360 is headquartered in Beijing, and reported revenue of $1.4 billion in 2014. Although the company’s security products are little used outside of China, inside the People’s Republic (PRC) the company claimed almost 750 million people used its free mobile security app, 360 Mobile Safe, last year. Qihoo is also known for its 360 Browser, which relies on Microsoft’s Trident rendering engine, the same that powers Internet Explorer (IE).

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