Computers have long been included in everyday reality. It has long passed the time when a self-contained computer in itself was a cause for admiration. But the joy of being able to use such a wonderful thing is accompanied by worries. The most important of these troubles is to protect the computer from malicious viruses. Almost everyone knows about antivirus today. Among users, the controversy about which application of this kind copes better with its tasks and “strains” the computer to a lesser extent has gained particular popularity. Over time, more and more services are moving from the local hard disk to remote servers. Therefore, today we will talk about "anti-virus clouds." These services protect the computer, sometimes at a distance of thousands of kilometers from it.
Principles of operation of cloud antiviruses
Thanks to the efforts of Stephanie Crawford (Stephanie Crawford) on the pages of the resource HowStuffWorks has a fairly detailed overview of cloud antivirus solutions. This review fully deserves attention and detailed consideration, since it reflects all the main features of this relatively new category of services.
First, a little bit of terminology. A virus is a program that installs itself on a computer and makes unwanted changes to the data placed on it. The main source of viruses in modern reality is the Internet.
To protect their data from malicious code, people use anti-virus software. Today, you can use not only anti-virus applications installed on your computer, but also cloud-based anti-virus tools. The processes of such software mostly take place on a remote Internet server, and not on the hard disk of a computer.
Cloud antiviruses are complexes from a client application and a web service. Both parts of the antivirus work together. The client is a small program that runs on the user's computer and scans the system, checking whether it is infected with malicious code. It is known that traditional antivirus programs installed on a computer are “resource eaters”, but cloud antivirus client programs require much less computing power.
Cloud Anti-Virus web service is located on the Internet, on one or several servers. Most of the data processing tasks are performed by him, so the user's computer does not have to either process or store significant amounts of information. At certain intervals, the client program scans the computer. The essence of the scan is to search for malicious code information about which is in the database of the web service.
Now we list the advantages that cloud antivirus has in comparison with the traditional one:
- The client program has access to the latest data about the malicious code just a few minutes after the web service “learned” about it. No need to constantly update antivirus software.
- The client program is very small and is content with a small computing power. Consequently, it does not distract the computer from other tasks it performs.
- Cloud antivirus software is free. However, updates, additional utilities and support are offered for money.
Now that we have learned what cloud anti-virus software is, let's look at the functions that a typical cloud anti-virus performs.
Cloud antivirus functions
The user interface of the cloud anti-virus will not cause serious questions to any of those who have experience using traditional antivirus programs. And it does the same job: it scans the computer, detects the malicious code and cleans the system from it.
We list the main functions available in the cloud antivirus user interface:
- Scan the entire computer or individual folders.
- Ability to customize the automatic scan mode with an indication of the files that should be included in the scan area.
- View a detailed report on which malicious code was detected during the scanning process.
- Actions to delete or restore quarantined files or files that have been disarmed in some way.
In these basic functions, there is no difference from the traditional antivirus. But there are those features that are peculiar exclusively to cloud anti-virus services. As we have said, the cloud anti-virus distributes the execution of its tasks between the user's computer (client software) and a remote web server (or several servers), which is accessed via the Internet.
Thus, part of the resources is “shared” for all users. This is not only the computing power of the servers, but also a central database containing data about malicious code.
This database is compiled in various ways. Each product has its own methods of replenishment. For example, Panda Cloud Antivirus receives data from a collection of sources, which the developers themselves call the “Collective Intelligence”: from IT and software resources, from host traps (computers specifically left as bait for viruses), and also from the users themselves.
Immunet Free Antivirus gets its data from the user community (Immunet Cloud) and this is how its developers will learn about potential threats. Servers that host cloud antiviruses work with algorithms that can classify viruses according to various signs, including the degree of danger.
Cloud databases are not only methods of collecting information. The real advantage of cloud antiviruses is the speed with which they are able to provide protection against new threats.
Cloud antivirus also provides for the possibility of caching a database on a computer for further use in offline mode. Of course, in this case, the database will contain data as it was at the time it was saved. This cache can be updated while the computer is on the Internet. But it does not contain a complete list of information about malicious code, only about the most common threats.
But for now, pure theory is enough. We turn to the consideration of cloud antiviruses on the example of one of the most famous products in this category - Panda Cloud Antivirus.
Consideration of the possibilities of cloud antiviruses on the example of Panda Cloud Antivirus
Panda Cloud Antivirus is created by Panda Security. Offered in two editions of Free (free) and Pro (professional). Focuses on securing the operating systems of Windows 7, Vista and XP (Service Pack 2 or later). After installing the Panda Cloud Antivirus client program, a panda head logo appears in the tray, indicating that the software has been downloaded. Clicking on the panda logo opens the user interface of the client program of this anti-virus. Right clicking on it gives access to a number of options, including enabling and disabling software.
The user interface displays a status screen indicating whether there are any errors in the system or if everything is fine with it. If a scan is currently in progress, the user sees green bars running in "waves" along the process line. If the scan is not done, the user can start it using the “Scan” icon. This icon looks like a magnifying glass.
The user can configure some scan options:
- Optimized scanning: scanning of folders and files defined by the program itself in the Windows system. Those folders and files that are most vulnerable to existing malicious code.
- Full scan: Windows system scan entirely. In the event that the user has a lot of data on the hard disk, this can take a long time.
- Selective scanning: the user himself selects the folders that he would like to check for the presence of malicious code.
When the scan is complete, Panda Cloud Antivirus informs the user about the problems that were found on his computer. The program does not list all these problems at once. It shows the user: all “ok” or not all “ok”. If the system is not in order, the user can click on the message, which indicates how many problems were detected during the scanning process.
Or click on a report icon that looks like a pie chart. Thus you can get information about the types of malicious code that were detected on the computer. In this report, there is a link to the full “event report” containing information about everything that the program did during the scan, all the detected malicious files and what the antivirus did to them.
Like other anti-virus applications, Panda Cloud Antivirus will quarantine some suspicious files that the program does not know for sure whether they are malicious or not. In Panda Cloud Antivirus, quarantine is called a “basket”. This means that these files are neutralized by renaming them so that they are not easy to find. So the anti-virus service gives the user the ability to recover a suspicious file.
Each cloud antivirus has both default settings and allows the user to change them. If you click on the corresponding icon in the lower right corner of the program, the settings window appears. You can configure the following things:
- Configure connection settings through a proxy server. Home users rarely need this, and often in offices.
- Enable or disable automatic scanning.
- Enable or disable prescan USB drives. This is a kind of “vaccination” that makes it difficult for viruses to “jump” from a flash drive to a hard disk of a computer. But this feature is only in the Pro version.
- Perform advanced settings related to the scanning process, the basket and the report.
Who needs an antivirus?
Historically, the fame of the main object for viruses went to Windows operating systems. It is believed that this is due to vulnerabilities opening gaps in the system for malicious code. Therefore, antivirus software developers focus on their Windows solutions.
At the same time, Macs and Linux-based computers, contrary to popular belief, are not completely invulnerable to malicious code. Antivirus programs are also being created for these platforms with the help of which users can protect their computers.
Why criticize cloud antivirus?
The number of available cloud antiviruses is growing. Some of them are worth listing:
- Panda Cloud Antivirus. We have already talked about it in more detail. The Pro version costs 29 dollars 99 US cents and differs from its free (Free) counterpart by providing technical support and the ability to scan devices connected to a computer through a USB port.
- Immunet. This antivirus product was created by a former leading Symantec employee and is considered quite powerful. The free version is auxiliary and is designed to collect information about virus threats. Thanks to her, a large community is formed around the service. Immunet Plus is offered for 24 dollars 95 cents. The paid version provides protection in offline mode, advanced scanning and removal functions.
- HitMan Pro. This antivirus is free and its auxiliary task. It is designed to provide additional protection for a computer on which an anti-virus program is already installed. HitMan Pro provides a sort of second opinion on the state of the system.
Some people do not trust the cloud anti-virus, believing that they lack a number of important components responsible for security and performance. It is also a matter of concern that these services collect information from users' computers. Panda assures people that their files never leave the computer through an anti-virus service. An exception is made for some executable files. Thus, those files that could potentially contain personal information are excluded from the list of data transmitted to the “clouds”. Experts recommend: before using the cloud antivirus, you should find out which files can become part of the service database.
Not everyone is enthusiastic about the performance of antiviruses, which are only partially on the user's computer. Antivirus cloud can increase the time it takes to boot and shut down your computer. In addition, they can slow down other applications.
The slowdown of the computer may be insignificant, but tangible. But at the same time traditional antiviruses also reduce system performance. So this quality is not a feature of the cloud antivirus, but is generally inherent in products that protect the computer from malicious code.
It remains an open question whether cloud antiviruses are inferior to traditional ones, or are users simply loyal to habit? Habit is sometimes stronger than any logical argument. For example, in the United States, people have been reluctant to use the metric system for centuries, despite repeated decisions to switch to a system of units of measure adopted in most countries of the world.
It also happens that for decades new technology does not attract much attention. But at one point it becomes extremely popular. Such was the history of mobile communication, which imperceptibly for most of the inhabitants of the planet appeared back in 1947, but until relatively recently it was not popular among the general public.
Based on computer.howstuffworks.com
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