Bitdefender, the innovative cybersecurity solutions provider, has won an “Outstanding Product” award from independent analysis firm AV-Comparatives after taking joint highest score overall in a year of rigorous testing.

Bitdefender Internet Security received the joint highest scores in testing throughout 2016 of 19 leading security software products. It also took the Gold Award for its performance in Real-World Protection and other awards in the categories of Performance, File Detection, False Positives and Malware Removal.

“Bitdefender is well-known for the quality of its products and it’s a very well-respected name among our testers here at AV-Comparatives,” said Andreas Clementi, CEO of AV-Comparatives. “Its performance in each category of testing was outstanding, earning it our Advanced+ rating across the board.”

An AV-Comparatives annual survey of users, which this year covered 2,516 respondents in 20 countries, showed Bitdefender makes the most popular mobile security solution in Europe and North America, and the most popular desktop security solution in North America.

The sixth annual survey of users, conducted between Dec. 15, 2016 and Jan. 15, 2017, also showed that 34.8% had suffered an attempted malware infection within the previous week, but it had been blocked by their security solution. Another 20.3% had suffered an attempt within the previous month.

The survey showed that 75 percent of users choose a security solution based on independent reviews and tests, while 10% make the choice based on recommendations on forums online.

“Bitdefender is proud to be a consistent award winner in independent testing by organizations such as AV-Comparatives,” said Ciprian Istrate, Vice President Consumer Solutions at Bitdefender. “Like consumers, we believe that independent testing is the best way to verify the quality of a security product or vendor.”

AV-TEST, another renowned independent testing organization, gave its prestigious Best Performance 2016 Award for corporate users earlier this month to Bitdefender Endpoint Security, highlighting its “superb performance” and “remarkable results.”

At the same time, Bitdefender Mobile Security took the Best Android Security 2016 Award from AV-TEST, which cited its “stellar scores” and “top results in hunting down the latest malware programs.”