The guys over at AV-Test have concluded an 18 month study, in which they were able to determine that Google is safer than its primary competitor Bing, when it comes to keeping malware out of search results. In other words, Bing delivers five times as many malicious malware results than Google does.
The results are from nearly 40 million websites provided by seven different search engines, including Bing and Google. 10 million of those results were from Bing and another 10 million from Google. Of the 40 million sites, AV-Test found 5,000 total pieces of malware, with Bing having the most compared to Google. (see chart below).
“The infected websites mostly use malware that exploits existing security vulnerabilities in users’ software. These vulnerabilities normally involve outdated browsers, old add-ons or extensions and out-of-date versions of PDF readers. Users can drastically reduce the likelihood of infection by keeping the software on their systems up to date. They can also guarantee that they have the best possible protection by additionally using high-quality security software that is constantly updated,” AV-Test stated.
While these results don’t mean you should stop using Bing in favor of Google, it just shows that Google places a stronger effort in keeping its users safe online. Which search engine do you use?
