F-Secure Full Review: The Cybercrime Expert
F-Secure is based in Helsinki, Finland. It's an antivirus company with many third-party lab testing to vouch for their performance. F-Secure runs on the Avira engine. They have participated in many investigations against cybercrime, making it one of the pioneers on the market.
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Cons
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Quick Stats
Let's read about F-Secure in detail, features, plans, prices, and security test results.
Security and Protection
In regards to F-Secure antivirus security, how should an antivirus protection assessment be measured? Do we take the words of the AV creators for their own program? The best way to assess an antivirus on its functionality is by using a third-party antivirus testing lab.
1. Third-party lab test results
Third-party testing labs are experts with well-constructed criteria and testing methods for AV products, providing an unbiased opinion on product security.
F-Secure has abundant data from different third-party testing labs.
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AV-Test lab results
- F-Secure scores a full 6/6 in protection, as it detects threats very well.
- F-Secure scores a full 6/6 in performance with a low impact on your device's resources.
- F-Secure scores a full 6/6 in usability with a low false-positive rate.
AV-Comparatives star ranking goes from 1 star (Standard) to 2 stars (Advanced award), and up to 3 stars with (Advanced + award).
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AV-Comparatives
- When tested against 40 of the latest malware, F-Secure scored 75/100 points, giving it 2/3 stars and an advanced award.
- The Real-World Protection Test was done in 2020 (i.e., blocking dangerous downloads and suspicious websites), despite a 100% blocking of 758 domains/files.
- F-Secure had a false positive block of 44 domains/files, with the average false positive being 17. The total score was 2/3 stars and an advanced award.
- Malware Protection Test: F-secure had a 3/3 (Advanced +) score regarding malware detection.
- This was done by testing 10102 Test cases with a 99.99% detection and block, with nine false positives.
- This was done by testing 10102 Test cases with a 99.99% detection and block, with nine false positives.
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SE Labs
- F-Secure scored (AA) overall with a total accuracy rating of 92%.
- F-Secure had a 93% legitimate accuracy score, meaning it could accurately differentiate the products that classify legitimate applications and URLs.
- In terms of protection, F-Secure detected 97 out of 100, blocked 97, and neutralized none. Earning a protection score of 97/100.
- F-Secure antivirus had a protection accuracy rating of 362/399 (91%).
2. Firewall Protection and IDS
The F-Secure "Firewall" option is a button to redirect you to the Windows Defender Firewall or Mac Firewall. That is to say, it doesn't have a firewall of its own.
3. USB rescue toolkit
F-Secure lacks a USB rescue toolkit; a USB rescue toolkit feature lets you download a rescue kit as a failsafe on your USB and use it later. If malicious ware infects your device and prevents it from even booting and reaching the antivirus screen, you can use the USB rescue kit to initiate cloud-based cleaner.
A USB Rescue toolkit can be useful against malicious ware that requires you to boot your PC to function.
Plans and Features
F-Secure provides five types of plans for you to decide; Anti-Virus, SAFE, FREEDOME VPN, ID PROTECTION, and TOTAL plans.
1. F-Secure Anti-Virus
This is the simplest of the plans. It's basically a standalone antivirus with no added features. It provides antivirus and ransomware protection.
F-Secure Anti-Virus is compatible with Windows only.
2. F-Secure SAFE
This is the more comprehensive variant of F-Secure. It adds to the bundle:
- Browsing protection, which protects users from phishing websites, and blocks suspicious downloads.
- Banking protection, which provides the user with an extra layer of protection for online payments.
- Parental control provides parents with the means to block unwanted traffic to their children using a color-coding feature to block unwanted websites.
- Device Finder helps locate lost devices. It doubles as a child finder by tracking the device your child has.
This plan is compatible with Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS.
3. F-Secure FREEDOM VPN
This plan provides you with a VPN service that masks your IP address and encrypts your data. The bundle also includes browsing protection, tracking protection, and Wi-Fi protection features.
- Anti-tracking prevents individuals and companies from tracking your data online. Tracking is often used to tracks your data from websites you visit, allowing for identity theft profiling. Big companies like Google and Facebook have trackers implemented in many websites online, used for targeted advertisement.
- FREEDOME VPN used to lack a kill switch back in 2017. Later on, the kill switch feature was added, protecting users from possible leaks if their connection fails.
- FREEDOME uses strong encryption protocols for network traffic encryption. For Android, Windows, and macOS, FREEDOM VPN utilizes OpenVPN with either 128-bit or 256-bit encryption.
- The iOS protocols include IKEv1, IKEv2 which utilize either 256-bit or 128-bit encryption.
- FREEDOME VPN uses Diffie-Hellman key exchange for perfect forward secrecy (PFS).
Google tracker can be found lurking in approximately 75% of web pages online! Facebook is found in 24%. Trackers are used for targeted advertisements.
- Wi-Fi protection ensures your connection is secure to avoid hackers attempting to use your connection.
Wi-Fi hacking is often much easier than hacking devices connected to the network, depending on the type of Wi-Fi encryption protocol, with the WEP being the easiest to hack.
This plan is compatible with Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS.
4. F-Secure ID PROTECTION
This plan includes:
- F-Secure KEY Password Manager to help you produce a strong password and save them with encryption, to be used later using a master password. This helps keep stronger passwords that are various, meaning if you get hacked into one account, you won't lose all the others with the same password.
- Online ID monitor scans the dark web for data breaches and informs you if your information is found there.
Most identity theft info is sold online using the dark web? Having an alarm to warn you of such breaches can help you act before that info is used to harm you.
- Breach alerts on Android and iOS inform you when popular services are breached.
This plan is compatible with Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS.
5. F-Secure TOTAL
This is the mother of all plans, including all features provided by all other F-Secure plans combined.
This plan is compatible with Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS.
Banking protection
When entering a website, the banking protection checks with security cloud/querying and compares whether the site is listed as a trusted banking website or not.
When the banking protection feature is used, access to any unsafe website is automatically blocked, and all untrusted connections to your device are terminated to ensure your safety.
Device compatibility
All F-Secure products except for the F-Secure Anti-Virus plan are compatible with:
- Windows (Windows 7, Windows8.1, and Windows 10).
- macOS X 10.14 or later.
- Android 6.0 or later.
- iOS 13.0 or later.
F-Secure Anti-Virus plan is compatible only with Windows.
User Experience
The F-Secure user interface takes a minimalistic approach, with a two-buttoned main page user interface making it fairly simple for users.
Customer support
Customer support is provided for all F-Secure users all plans in the form of:
• How to & FAQS.
• Help Forums.
• Chat Forum.
• Call Support.
Pricing and Payments
| Plans | One device | Three devices | Five devices | Seven devices | Ten devices |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F-Secure TOTAL | N/A | $89.99/year | $109.99/year | $129.99/year | N/A |
| F-Secure SAFE | N/A | $34.99/year | $44.99/year | $54.99/year | N/A |
| F-Secure FREEDOME VPN | N/A | $2.92/month (12 months) | N/A | $5.83/month (12 months) $3.75/month (24 months) |
N/A |
| F-Secure ID PROTECTION | N/A | N/A |
$4.99/month $39.99/year |
N/A |
$6.49/month $59.99/year |
Money-back guarantee
A 30-day money-back guarantee is provided for users of F-Secure. However, the money-back guarantee is only available if you purchased the product from official eCommerce partners or directly from F-Secure.
When buying F-Secure through third parties, such as Google Play Store or Apple App Store, the 30-day money-back guarantee is not eligible via F-Secure. The third-party should be contacted instead to check if they have their refund policies.
Free trial
A 30-day free trial period is available for users to try out products by F-Secure.
Payment methods
- Major credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, JCB).
- PayPal.
Final Verdict
F-Secure provides a robust antivirus service with high security and many useful features depending on the plan purchased. That said, the lack of a firewall is an issue that might be a deal-breaker for some. However, if you prefer using a third-party firewall or using a Windows Defender/Mac Firewall, this might be useful.