Long ago the links of integration between equipment and software were distant if not distant, that is, they maintained their own interests regardless of the rules of the market.
by Osvaldo Callegari*
Today with the internet everything is online and instantly, this makes the applications have certain features to be in accordance with current demands.
In these times it is difficult to conceive that a software that does not have integrated an intelligent update module that manages the history of that program to know when it is obsolete and when it is necessary to update it.
The reflection of this operation was established by antivirus programs, since Pre Internet threats were mostly carried out by human operations and infection processes were slow. Today with the dynamics and speed of computing, there are interventions called robots, which do different tasks replacing humans.
These elements are neither more nor less codes crafted with cunning to access data that people handle. So much so that it is public knowledge that when one wishes to fill out a form a Captcha option appears, a random code to be able to enter or process the next step.
Now there are several types of robots that perform tasks of propagation of forced advertising, theft of information etc. For this it is necessary antivirus that have some experience in controlling them.
Today we interview Marcelo Pizani PM of Panda Security for the Southern Cone (Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay,) who tells us about the problems that his company faces today in the face of these scourges.
Knowing Panda Security one of the oldest companies in the market, 23 years of uninterrupted validity we can say that this experience can be valuable to the reader to take it as a reference.
We start with an interesting point of how antiviruses reach the cloud. In the beginning it was the company's promise to protect users and data. In the middle there were update issues, heavy upload files, connection failures etc. Technology today has settled a bit between hardware and software.
Currently we can say that a new detection modality called Collective Intelligence is used. The possibility for multiple people of different races and from different parts of the world to share and feed on information in real time, the great facilitator of this concept is the Internet.
All security products that are handled to stay updated up to date, require the Internet, the model to follow was taken back in late 2007 and early 2008 a product called Panda Web Admin was generated that allowed to maintain an antivirus database centrally and available to local networks, This update was performed with a connection to the Web.
IC is currently used for all management of virus threats with global reach. As far as the cloud is concerned, Panda released a product called Cloud Office Protection, which is composed of an anti-malware, anti-spyware and firewall service.
Later, Cloud Email Protection comes out, a service dedicated to protecting email in the Cloud. In turn an Internet traffic controller called Cloud Internet Protection, Five solutions today make up a comprehensive product, one for offices, one for email, one for Internet traffic, a tool for cloud-based Partners and the latest Panda Sys Cloud Management which is not an antivirus but rather a monitoring solution.
According to Marcelo, from 2012 the channels began to request cloud products, until that moment users raised doubts about whether there was a possibility of reading their emails, how safe their data would be hosted.
That is why it is the great advantage of immediate consultation with a large global database that responds if it is indeed a threat. One of the concerns raised is whether viruses affect mobile computers or steal information.
In the case for example of a Trojan virus, before stealing mobile information first think about Windows, it has more market than to make one for Android in each of its versions. There are practically no indications, for example, in the southern cone of attacks on phones, tablets or laptops.
Historical background back in 2009
According to Benyi Arregocés Carrere, "Antiviruses begin to turn to the Internet after years of residing on the computer of users. Other services have long used this system (that of behaving like applications that run from the Internet) to perform office tasks, retouch photographs or edit videos. But the antivirus had so far remained tied to the desk like customs agents who controlled what entered the computer watching over his health. The Spanish company Panda has just inaugurated a new trend, not seen before in any program of this type: an antivirus whose operation is based in part on the data cloud that exists on the Internet, "he said.
In the same way, he indicated that "Panda's new software, called "Cloud Antivirus", is not a web application itself, but must be installed on the computer just like traditional programs. The difference with these is that the data of the new viruses and their definitions are not downloaded to the hard drive. They are read from the Internet in a constantly updated system. The same goes for analysis tasks that are performed online. To speed up the checks, not the entire files are sent, but only the "metadata" (parts of their code as tags) that identify them. This information is sent encrypted and, according to Panda, no personal data is sent but only the data of the executable files".
"The data of the new viruses is not downloaded to the hard drive but is read from the Internet in a constantly updated system." Three types of virus scanning "Cloud Antivirus" works in three different ways in order to reduce overall memory consumption. "OnAccess" looks for threats in running programs; "OnPrefetch" takes care of the software that can be activated soon and "OnBackground" is dedicated to examining all files only when the computer remains at rest.
The other features of this software resemble conventional antivirus, with its heuristic threat detection, anti-spyware and anti-rootkit programs. However, they act automatically without the user being able to configure them. Its design seeks maximum simplicity and presents an intuitive operation.
"You can select a scan of the entire hard drive or, conversely, focus only on a certain folder or file. The detected and neutralized threats are placed in a recycle bin within the program itself, which acts as a quarantine state. Thus, its operation can be restored in case it is a false positive," he added.
Current antivirus conditions
It has always been a constant that users want to have an antivirus that protects them from threats and at the same time have the feeling of being safe. While this has been an impregnable premise through the ages, antivirus companies have traveled a long and tedious road with distastes in the midst of proposed solutions that stopped working or models that bifurcated in another direction.
While the patience of users is not ideal when it comes to responses, they have had to patiently wait for answers from these companies to solve "Their threat problems".
We can say that with the congruence of information on the Internet with attributes such as:
* Ready to use
* Worldwide experience
* 24 x 365 monitoring
* Unification of criteria
They make threat detection systems more efficient, with less difficulty in their implementation, it is unnecessary to install heavy detection programs, today with algorithmic intelligence we can infer that the deadlines for updating tools are almost zero.
Cloud computing is a technology that allows you to offer services over the Internet. In this sense, the cloud is a term that is often used as a metaphor for the Internet in computer fields.
With the intention of migrating to the Cloud, a new generation of antivirus and security services around cloud computing trends begins: Cloud Security.
Panda Cloud Antivirus connects to Collective Intelligence servers in the cloud to protect your PC from the first moment, without relying on traditional updates and without penalizing the performance of your computer. Now all the knowledge is in the cloud with tools like Panda Cloud Antivirus, you can benefit from it.
To check an antivirus beta you can download a test at no cost in http://www.cloudantivirus.com/en/#!/free-antivirus-download, The version is 1.9.2.-
We attach as information from Wikipedia the types of vaccines for known viruses and the definition of Heuristics.
Methods to contain or reduce the risks associated with viruses can be called active or passive.
Types of vaccines
* Detection only: They are vaccines that only update infected files but cannot delete or disinfect them.
* Detection and disinfection: these are vaccines that detect infected files and can disinfect them.
* Detection and abortion of the action: these are vaccines that detect infected files and stop the actions caused by the virus.
* Comparison by signatures: son vaccines that compare the signatures of suspicious files to know if they are infected.
* Comparison of file signatures: these are vaccines that compare the signatures of the attributes saved on your computer.
* By heuristic methods: these are vaccines that use heuristic methods to compare files.
* Invoked by the user: these are vaccines that are instantly activated with the user.
*Invoked by system activity: these are vaccines that are instantly activated by operating system activity.
Heuristic
Heuristics is the techniques they use to recognize malicious codes (viruses, worms, Trojans, etc.) that are not in their database (either because they are new, or because they are not widely disclosed). The general term implies functionalities such as detection through generic signatures, recognition of compiled code, disassembly, unpacking, among others.
Its importance lies in the fact that it is the only possible automatic defense against the appearance of new malicious codes of which no signatures are possessed.
The brands and products mentioned are registered trademarks and products of their respective companies. Thanks to Marcelo Pizani for the invaluable information about products in the cloud. Quotes from Benyi Arregocés Carrere in his clear concept of virus in the cloud and the portal www.cloudantivirus.com of Panda for his help.
* If you wish to contact the author of this article for queries or permissions you can write to [email protected]
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