Heimdal Security

How does Heimdal Security fair against its competition, and is it worth it? This article contains valuable information to help you make up your mind.
 

Security and Protection

The major point when buying an antivirus is how secure the product is, so we ask the question: Can Heimdal Security protect our devices from viruses, malware, and other causes of harm?

To answer that, we check the following regarding security and protection:
 

1. Third-party lab test results

Rather than taking the words of the AV creators for their own devices, checking with third-party labs and compiling an analysis report of different resources provides the best assessment.
 

• AV-Test scores

  • Heimdal Security scores relatively low on protection according to AV-Test. It gets a 3/6 score on its ability to detect malicious ware.
     
  • Heimdal Security scores 6/6 in the impact on device performance department, which means it won't take up your device's resources.
     
  • Heimdal Security has a low false-positive rate with a 5.5/6 usability score. This means it's unlikely to mistake regular files for harmful ones.
     

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• AV-Comparatives

AV-Comparatives don't include a Heimdal Security assessment.
 

• SE Labs

Regarding SE Labs, Heimdal Security was not reviewed. Hence it won't be further discussed here.
 

2. Firewall and IDS protection

Heimdal Security has firewall protection with the Heimdal Nextgen Antivirus Home and Heimdal Premium Security Home. A firewall's function is to monitor incoming and outgoing network traffic providing users with an intruder detection system (IDS) to protect users from possible threats that might harm their devices.
 

3. USB Rescue ToolKit

A USB rescue toolkit feature is where you would download a rescue kit as a failsafe on your USB and use it later on. In the event 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 a cloud-based cleaner. A USB Rescue toolkit can be useful against malware that requires you to boot your PC to function.

While Heimdal Security used to have a USB rescue toolkit earlier, they ended up removing this tool which had negative feedback from users.
 

Heimdal Security Plans and Features

Heimdal Security provides users with three main products: Heimdal Threat Prevention Home, Heimdal Next-Gen Antivirus Home, and Heimdal Premium Security Home. Here is a quick summary of the features:

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1. Heimdal Threat Prevention Home

Heimdal Threat Prevention Home provides robust protection through the following features:

• Virus, malware, and Ransomware protection: Heimdal Threat Prevention Home provides state of the art antivirus protection against threats so you can remain safe.
   
• Anti-phishing protection: protecting your device from fraudulent websites and links, ensuring your safety.
   
• Secure web browsing.
   
• Secure Online banking and payments: Protects users from fake duplicate websites attempting to steal your data.
   
• Automatic vulnerability updates: Regularly checks for any vulnerabilities you might have and updates them so there won't be any way you would be compromised.
   

2. Heimdal Next-Gen Antivirus Home

The Heimdal Next-gen Antivirus Home plan provides users with a different set of features than the ones provided in Heimdal Threat Prevention Home, such as:

• Local signature-based scanning: Heimdal uses a signature-based scanning method to identify threats and protect your device from all kinds of threats, including viruses, malware, ransomware, and more. This first layer of protection is essential for enjoying online security.
   
• Real-time cloud scanning: Any files foreign to the local database are sent to the online cloud system for analysis via real-time scanning. Using AI machine learning, potential threats are identified and blocked while adding new codes for further patching.
   
• Sandbox environment testing: Suspicious files that can't be identified as safe that might be a possible threat are isolated in a virtual sandboxing environment system. While isolated, these files are checked to see if they act as harmful malware.
   
• Heuristic and behavior-based scanning: When files start running, Heimdal Antivirus Home monitors all activities on your device using Heuristic, Behavior-based software analysis. This means even if a new unregistered file is acting in a suspicious way, it detects code changes at all levels and blocks attacks from modifying your data, keeping you safe from day-zero attacks.
   

3. Heimdal Premium Security Home

The Heimdal Premium Security Home includes both the previous bundles together in one plan providing the best of both worlds.

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Heimdal Security mobile app

Along with the Internet Security plan, the Heimdal Security mobile app is available for Android phones only.

This provides users with protection against threats such as viruses, malware, and other harmful programs.

Extra features

Among the major extra features provided by antiviruses, Heimdal Security stands as follows:
 

• Password manager

Heimdal Security doesn’t provide a password manager as part of its plans but rather as a standalone product.

Using the same password, again and again, runs the risk of getting hacked across all your accounts when hacked on one, while using different passwords runs the risk of forgetting them. Password managers are the perfect solution.
 

• Online banking

Heimdal Security provides safe online banking.

With safe online banking, a user would be able to do online transactions in safe environments without the risk of losing his information to a man in the middle attack or other attempts at stealing your data. Heimdal Security redirects users to real sites if they go to a fake one automatically, adding to the online security.
 

• Parental control

Heimdal Security antivirus doesn’t have the parental control feature.

Parental control allows worried parents to take care of their children and make sure they are surfing safe parts of the internet and when they are allowed to do so.
 

• VPN

Heimdal Security lacks a premium VPN service.

A VPN is a useful tool to encrypt your data when browsing online and to mask your IP address.
 

• Backup

Heimdal Security doesn’t provide online backup.

The presence of encrypted online backup can give peace of mind, especially when one has sensitive documents relating to work, personal, and sensitive files. With the online backup, a user can find his files saved in the event the main files are lost, which can prove helpful.
 

User Experience

Heimdal Security provides a great user experience for users, be it in the form of the scan speed amplified by the Turbo Scan feature, which shortens scanning time by skipping files it already knows are safe, the simple user interface, or the smooth customer support.
 

1. Ease of use

The user interface is user-friendly with two separate sections including Thor foresight, and Thor vigilance. 

Under the Thor foresight tab, a green smart scan button labeled "Scan anyway" is available for when your PC is healthy. Under the Thor vigilance section users can find a custom scan button. 

The menu for more options is located at the top left section of the interface.

2. Customer support

In terms of customer support, the following methods of contact are available for users when they are in need of help:

• Knowledge base
• FAQs
• Live chat
• Email and ticketing
   

Pricing and Payments

Heimdal Security prices per plan summarized in a table:

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Payment methods

Payment methods include:

• Major credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover).
   

Free trial

Heimdal Security provides users with a 30-day trial period to try their premium product to make sure they are satisfied with the product.
 

Money-back guarantee

In addition to the 30-day trial, a 30-day money-back guarantee is also available, adding up to 60 days of risk-free use of Heimdal Security until you make up your mind.

Final Verdict

Is Heimdal Security worth it? Heimdal provides a great deal in the forms of protection, as it provides many features such as cloud-scanning, sandboxing, heuristics, and behavior analysis, all of which are tools that can be useful against day-zero attacks. However, the fact that products are subdivided with the premium security product having the total package feels a bit like an obligating purchase. 

That being said, it is still an ok choice. However, for a lower price, you might get a better deal with Norton 360 by getting the same level of protection or better with the addition of many more features which aren't available, like the VPN and password manager.