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Panda Security on Wednesday released a cloud-based antivirus solution in beta.
Panda Cloud Antivirus is based on a new protection model that utilizes a thin-client agent and server architecture to process and block malware. The product provides full protection from viruses, spyware and rootkits for free, according to the company, and does so with 50 percent less impact on PC performance.
The technology moves the entire malware scanning and determination process to the cloud and applies nonintrusive interception techniques to the client architecture. The process provides protection against new and unknown viruses through the lightweight thin-client agent.
"You can't put all those signatures into the PC," Juan Santana, CEO for Panda Security, told TechNewsWorld, referring to the multitude of malware instances currently in the wild. "Panda Cloud Antivirus represents a quantum leap in protection over the traditional approach to antivirus."
What's Different
Traditional antivirus products for PCs rely on multiple, locally installed technologies to intercept each file at different layers. The scanning is enabled for entry vector, file system and execution processes.
Traditional antivirus products scan these layers using antivirus, heuristics, intrusion prevention and behavioral analysis modules. This approach process results in heavy usage of local PC memory and CPU resources, thus impacting the computer's performance.
Panda's new approach uses the thin-client agent for on-access,
asynchronous cloud scanning. This strategy 
combines local detection
technologies with real-time cloud scanning to maximize protection
while minimizing resource consumption. The model blocks
malicious programs as they attempt to execute, while managing less
dangerous operations via nonintrusive background scans.
"Protection from the clouds is much better. Performance on the computer is not impacted," Santana said.
Collective Intelligence
The company is counting on the free download of Panda Cloud Antivirus even after the beta phase to build a database of malware activity. Panda's proprietary cloud computing technology, called "Collective Intelligence," aims to harness the knowledge of Panda's global community of millions of users to automatically identify and classify new malware strains.
It takes the technology less than six minutes to scan each new file automatically received into the collective from users' computers, according to Panda. Collective Intelligence servers automatically receive and classify over 50,000 new samples every day.
Panda's Collective Intelligence system also correlates malware information data collected from each PC to continually improve protection for the community of users.
Dual Methods
Panda's technology blocks malware at the execution stage. That accounts for the economy of performance, Santana explained.
When users are not connected to the Internet, a local cache continues to provide protection to the computer. Since 95 percent of all computers are infected only while connected to the Internet, there is no inherent risk when the cloud application is not available, according to Santana.
Panda Cloud Antivirus includes local and remote antivirus, antispyware, antirootkit, heuristics and goodware cache.
Offline Functionality
Not having full antimalware functionality when not on the Internet should not be a concern, according to Dana Gardner, principal analyst at Interarbor Solutions.
"The offline cache does quite a bit of checking," Gardner told TechNewsWorld. "Something new can only cause an infection when the computer is connected to the Internet. So that doesn't concern me."
The amount of added protection available while offline could be a distinguishing factor between the free version and the professional-strength paid version, he noted.
"It's an innovative product. I'm intrigued by the use of the user network to build the signature base," he said.
Money Stream
Offering the free version is clearly a twofold strategy, according to Santana. One reason for doing it is to advance the name brand in the U.S.; the second is to ensure a maximum pool of users connected to the Collective Intelligence database in the cloud.
"I haven't convinced my board that Panda is a nonprofit organization yet," Santana quipped. "We aren't as well known by less-savvy consumers in the U.S. Offering the free version will help improve that."
Panda might resort to a limited list of features to give consumers a
reason to move beyond the free version, he acknowledged.
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