G Data Internet Security – Review 2020
As you can see in the company logo above, G Data advises you to “Trust in German Sicherheit” (security). It’s up to you whether you decide to trust the company, but it has been providing security for many decades. G Data Internet Security includes all the features you’d expect in a suite—antivirus, firewall, parental controls, spam filtering, and more. That said, the quality of the components spans quite a range, from very good to poor, and the poor ones haven’t improved appreciably in the last several years.
Just under $80 per year is a common price for a three-license security suite subscription—Bitdefender, Kaspersky, and Trend Micro match that price. That same money gets you six licenses for G Data. Actually, you can pick the exact number of licenses you want, from one for $39.95 to 10 for $111.95. G Data is less expensive than most of its competitors.
This product’s main window features the familiar bold G Data color scheme, with a red banner holding a row of icons at top. As with the standalone antivirus, there are icons for Security Center, Virus Protection, and Autostart Manager. The suite adds icons for Firewall, Backup, and Parental Control.
Shared With Antivirus
This suite gives you precisely the antivirus protection and other features that you get in G Data Antivirus. I’ll summarize my findings here. For full details, please read my review of the antivirus.
Lab Test Results Chart
Malware Protection Results Chart
Phishing Protection Results Chart
Two of the four antivirus labs I follow include G Data in their tests and reports. In the real-world attack simulation tests by SE Labs, G Data took AA certification, the second-highest of five possible levels. That’s good, but in the latest test over 60 percent of the products managed AAA certification.
G Data didn’t do quite as well in the three-part testing performed by AV-Test Institute. In all three categories, it came up slightly short, receiving 5.5 of six possible points for protection, performance, and usability. That 16.5-point total isn’t great; just six products scored lower. Nearly a dozen scored 17.5 or a perfect 18 points, earning the title Top Product.
The very best products earn top marks from all four labs, and my aggregate lab score algorithm reflects this. Tested by all four, Avira Internet Security Suite achieved 9.9 of 10 possible points, closely followed by Norton with 9.8 points and Kaspersky with 9.7. Only three of the labs tested Bitdefender Internet Security in their latest reports, but perfect scores in those three tests took it to 10 points.
By default, G Data scans in the background, when the computer is idle. I always advise a full scan of the whole computer just after installing antivirus protection. In my previous test, a full G Data scan took three times what was then the average. This time a full scan came within a few minutes of the current average (a little over an hour), and a repeat scan finished in just 14 minutes.
In my hands-on malware protection test, G Data detected 98 percent of the samples and earned 9.8 of 10 possible points. Only Webroot, which scored a perfect 10, has done better against the current sample set.
G Data also did well in my malicious URL blocking test, which uses a feed of URLs recently observed by researchers at MRG-Effitas. It prevented 99 percent of the malware downloads, in almost every case by preventing all access to the malware-hosting URL. McAfee, Sophos, and Vipre did even better, scoring a perfect 100 percent in their latest tests.
G Data uses a combination of real-time analysis and cloud-blacklist lookup to help users avoid phishing sites, fraudulent websites that try to steal login credentials. It did better this time than in my previous test, but it still just detected 90 percent of the verified frauds. In their latest tests, Trend Micro Internet Security and Kaspersky reached 100 percent, and another ten products scored better than G Data.
Other Shared Features
Exploit protection is usually associated with firewalls, but G Data offers it in the standalone antivirus. When I tested it using 30-odd real exploits, it detected and blocked 71 percent of them, which is better than most. Norton blocked all the exploits in its latest test.
Not everyone needs a local spam filter, but for those that do, G Data makes this feature available in the standalone antivirus. It filters POP3 and IMAP email, tagging spam and suspected spam by modifying the subject line. For Outlook users, it diverts spam to a junk folder; those using a different email client must create a rule to deal with marked spam messages. G Data uses numerous filters to distinguish spam from valid mail, but most users should leave these at their default settings, except to whitelist known safe correspondents.
My hands-on testing confirmed that G Data’s keylogger protection works. A sample keylogger captured keystrokes in Notepad (which isn’t protected) but caught nothing when I typed in the browser.
The ransomware protection component didn’t fare as well in testing. To simulate a brand-new ransomware attack that slips past other protective layers, I turned off all layers except for Anti-Ransomware. Out of eight active real-world encrypting ransomware samples, G Data successfully caught four, protecting my test system’s files. It caught another two after they had done their damage, and totally missed the remaining two.
Like the SafePay feature in Bitdefender and Safe Money in Kaspersky Internet Security, BankGuard protects your browsers from man-in-the-middle attacks and other data-stealing attacks. Unlike the other two, it does so invisibly. The AutoStart manager lets you reversibly disable programs from launching at startup, or set them to launch after a delay. Once again, all these bonus features appear both in this suite and in the standalone antivirus.
See How We Test Security Software
Basic Firewall
The firewall that’s built into modern versions of Windows does a fine job of blocking simple attacks from outside and putting the system’s ports in stealth mode. A security suite that replaces Windows Firewall must handle those tasks at least as well, and G Data hits that mark. It fended off all the port scans and Web-based attacks I used, and it stealthed all the ports.
On the firewall’s simple settings page, a large slider lets you choose from five preset security levels: Maximum, High, Standard, Low, and Disabled. Three other pages hold very detailed firewall settings, but G Data deliberately disables those by default, changing the settings they contain automatically as you change security levels. If you’re that rare person, a true firewall expert, you can choose custom settings and thereby gain access to those pages. But you probably aren’t, so just leave the firewall set to its default Standard level.
As in most suites, G Data also keeps track of how programs are using your network connection. Advanced firewall systems like Norton’s automatically define permissions for millions of known programs and carefully monitor any unknown programs, suppressing any that show signs of misusing the network. You’ll also find old-school firewalls that unwisely rely on the uninformed user to decide how to handle unknown programs. Typically, users either blindly click Allow or blindly click Block. It’s not a good plan.
Like Bitdefender’s, G Data’s firewall runs in autopilot mode by default, meaning you won’t see any queries. It’s not clear that this does anything more than blocking unsolicited incoming connections, though. To see the program control component in action, I turned off autopilot. By default, the program will temporarily turn autopilot back on if it detects you’re launching a full-screen application, so as not to interrupt your game or movie.
For a simple test, I tried launching a program that wouldn’t be known to G Data, a small browser I coded myself. G Data popped up a screenful of information including the port, protocol, and IP address involved, and gave me four choices: allow access once, allow it always, block access once, or block always. Unfortunately, it also popped up for numerous Windows internal components, and for programs that surely should have been known and trusted, such as Chrome and Firefox.
In addition, firewall pop-ups appear for all user accounts, not just Administrators. A child playing games could disable access for your browser, or some essential Windows component. If that happens, open the Application Radar window from the main firewall page and unblock the application.
Firewall protection that can be turned off by malicious code isn’t worth much, so I always check some possible weak spots. I couldn’t disable G Data by tweaking the Registry, though it didn’t protect its Registry data against change the way Bitdefender, McAfee Total Protection, and others do. It also protected all of its processes against termination by Task Manager; I just got an “Access denied” message.
In an improvement since my last review, G Data now protects its most important Windows services against an attack that previously disabled them. I did manage to kill off the service that manages backups, but all those related to antivirus, firewall, and other security needs resisted my tampering.
This personal firewall component handles the basic tasks of protecting against outside attack and preventing programs from misusing your Internet connection, but that’s about all. Fortunately, it does now harden its most important services against interference by malware processes.
Cloud Storage Backup
To get started with G Data’s backup system, you click the main Backup icon and click New task (found near the top right corner of the window that appears). Doing so triggers a pop-up explaining that with this product you get cloud backup only, and that additional features such as local backups and backing up to optical media require an upgrade to G Data Total Security.
As with most cloud backup systems, you create a backup job by defining what to back up, where to back it up, when to do the job, and how to do it. The first step, what to back up, uses a confusing file and folder tree. The problem here is redundancy. Suppose you start by checking the tree item with your username, thereby selecting all your user data for backup. If you now disable the Libraries item below, you’ll find your documents, music, and so forth are no longer backed up. I strongly recommend that you review your choices thoroughly before proceeding, to make sure you’ve caught everything.
The next step is to choose where you’ll store your backed-up files, but your only choice for a backup target is the cloud. When I tried to continue at this point, the program admonished me, “Cloud has been selected as target, but no login has been entered.” Clicking the cloud icon brought up a menu that let me choose Dropbox or Google Drive. I chose Dropbox, logged in, and gave G Data permission to access its own folder.
Kaspersky Total Security also offers to store backups on Dropbox, but this is just one of its many options. With Kaspersky, you can also back up your files to any local, removable, or network drive.
Rather than rely on remembering to run the backup job from time to time, you can schedule a full backup to run daily, weekly, or monthly. On a separate schedule you can run a partial backup that only saves changed data, which takes a lot less time. For example, you might schedule a full backup monthly and a partial backup every day.
Do you know the difference between incremental and differential partial backups? Few people do. If you choose differential, each partial backup contains all the changed data since the last full backup. Incremental backups just contain the changes since the latest backup of any kind, full or incremental. Incremental backups are smaller, but each one depends on the previous, so if any incremental backup gets corrupted you could have a problem.
The Options page lists dozens of settings relating to your backup, but for most users only a few are relevant. To save space, you may choose to exclude certain files, such as temporary files, or the thumbs.db files that Windows creates in picture folders. And if you’re short on cloud storage space, you can crank up the compression setting.
That’s it; you’re done creating a backup job. Well, almost. I found that G Data demanded a Windows user account and password, allowing it to run backups regardless of which user is logged in. I haven’t run into this kind of requirement with other backup systems.
You can create as many jobs as you like. For example, you could run a full backup every week, but archive your most important files daily. Or you might prefer backing up both to Dropbox and Google Drive.
Restoring backed-up files is a snap. Choose the backup set from a list, choose to restore all files or just some of them, and choose whether to restore to the original location or a new location. By default, restored files always overwrite existing files in the destination. However, you can choose to only overwrite if the two files have different size or last-modified times, or only if the backed-up copy is more recent.
Not all security suites require that you use third-party cloud storage for backup. A Norton 360 Deluxe subscription comes with 50GB of hosted online backup, and the three tiers of combined Norton and Lifelock offer 100GB, 250GB, and 500GB of storage.
Webroot SecureAnywhere Internet Security Complete doesn’t go quite as far as Norton, offering 25GB by default with the option to purchase more storage. That’s still more than you get from G Data. I’d like to see this suite’s backup system streamlined and simplified, to make it easier for users.
Poor Parental Control
This suite’s parental control system handles content filtering and time scheduling for Internet or computer use, but that’s all. You won’t find any advanced features, and the components it does include don’t work well.
By default, the content filter blocks websites matching five categories: drugs, hackers, violence, extremist, and porn. A sixth option blocks all sites that use a secure connection. Why? Because G Data can’t filter HTTPS sites. Blocking secure sites means you’d block PCMag, Wikipedia, and the vast number of websites that correctly use an HTTPS connection. Leaving that option unchecked means you’re letting through any porn site or other unwanted site that uses HTTPS (and there are plenty). That’s just the beginning of this component’s shortcomings.
Parents can create new categories, but really, parents aren’t going to do that. Looking at the category-creation dialog, you can see that G Data detects content categories simply by looking for keywords in the URL, the header, the metadata, or the page text. That simple-minded analysis makes for poor filtering, as you’ll see below.
Parents can limit time on the computer, the Internet, or both. When enabled, the default in each case is 1.5 hours per day, 10.5 hours per week, and 45 hours per month. You can also define a weekly schedule, in one-hour increments, for when the child can use the Internet, or the computer. This feature uses a handy grid that makes it easy to set allowed and blocked times.
When I put G Data’s time scheduler to the test, I found that it no longer relies on the system clock. That’s good, because previously the scheduler had no teeth. Even then, I couldn’t find a similar way to defeat the daily cap.
The keyword-based content filter is both too lax and too strict. Photo-based naughty sites with no banned words in the URL or page text flew right past the filter, while perfectly innocent sites got the boot. For example, it blocks any Blogspot blog because the filter found “pot” in the URL. For a further test, I set it to block the made-up word “pcm” and found that it did indeed block PCMag.com. It’s useless.
You’d think the Hackers category would block secure anonymizing proxy websites, but it doesn’t. By connecting to one, I completely eluded the filter. You can be sure your teenager will figure out this hack.
G Data does report which websites it blocked for each user, along with a date/time stamp and explanation. The explanation helped me confirm that, for example the app did indeed block blogspot.com pages due to the embedded word pot.
This is just not a useful system. All it does is control screen time and filter websites based on content, and the content filter both misses inappropriate sites and blocks innocent ones. If you need parental control in your security suite, look elsewhere. Kaspersky Total Security comes with the excellent Kaspersky Safe Kids. And the parental control component in Norton does vastly more than G Data’s.
Apart from the minor improvement in time control, this parental control system has remained unchanged and unimproved for many years. I’d like to see some progress from G Data. Either make it work or get rid of it.
File Shredder
If your desktop is overrun with dozens of icons, you might not have noticed a new one that the G Data installer added. G Data Shredder is a secure deletion utility, for use when you want to delete a file beyond the possibility of forensic recovery. File encryption utilities often come with a shredder, so you can thoroughly wipe out the plain-text originals of your encrypted files.
If you want to permanently dispose of a file, for security reasons or otherwise, just deleting it doesn’t do the job. Anybody can restore it from the Recycle Bin. Even if you bypass the bin, the file’s data remains on disk until its space gets reused, and forensic recovery software can usually bring it back.
G Data’s shredder lets you permanently delete files by overwriting the data before deletion. By default, it just makes one pass, overwriting the file data with random bits. That’s enough to defeat software-based recovery. If the Feds (or the Mafia) are going over your computer for evidence, they might bring in hardware-based recovery systems. Even then, accepted wisdom is that after seven overwrites even the best hardware systems can’t get anything back. So why does G Data let you choose up to 99 overwrites? Any more than seven and you’re just wasting time.
Once you’ve configured the shredder, you drag files and folders onto its icon for secure deletion. You’ll also find a Shred choice on the right-click menu.
New Performance Impact
If you get the feeling that your security utility is putting a drag on performance, you’re likely to turn it off rather than get fragged due to lag. In truth, there was a time when bloated security suites dragged down performance, but it was a long while ago, and the makers have learned their lesson. Most modern suites don’t cause any serious performance impact.
Even so, I put them to the test, averaging multiple runs of my test scripts on a clean physical computer, then installing the suite and averaging multiple script runs again. Comparing the before and after scores lets me see just what effect the suite had on boot time, copying files between drives, and putting a large collection of files into and out of ZIP archives.
Initially my test hit a strange snag. I use the popular 7-Zip utility in my scripts because it’s well-suited to command-line operation. Well, G Data’s new BEAST behavioral detection system decided that 7-Zip is malware, and put it in quarantine. I rescued the program and started fresh, but I was truly surprised to find G Data interfering with a well-known tool like 7-Zip.
Last time I tested G Data, I found that it didn’t slow any of the test scripts. This time around, it performed quite differently. Perhaps the new BEAST system needs some tuning? The boot time test took 31 percent longer after I installed G Data, and the file move and copy test took 52 percent longer. Only the zip/unzip test was unaffected.
With an average drag of 27 percent, G Data is in the bottom half of recent products. On the one hand, you still probably won’t notice a slowdown. On the other, ESET and Webroot didn’t slow any of the scripts in their latest rounds of testing.
Component Quality Varies
G Data Internet Security includes all the components you expect in a security suite and even offers a backup system. The antivirus performed well in testing, though its ransomware-specific protection layer missed quite a bit. The parental control system is both limited and ineffective, and the firewall offers just the basics. You’re better off with a suite in which all the components do their jobs well. Given that almost none of the problems reported in our previous reviews have been fixed, perhaps you’re also better off with a company that’s more proactive.
For the purpose of defining Editors’ Choice products, we distinguish basic suites like G Data, feature-packed mega-suites, and cross-platform multi-device suites. In the basic suites arena, Bitdefender Internet Security and Kaspersky Internet Security are our Editors’ Choice products. Both cost more than G Data, but they also offer much better security.
