Today we’re releasing the public beta of Panda Cloud Antivirus, which is the first free cloud-based antivirus thin-client. It consists of a lightweight antivirus agent that is connected in real-time to PandaLabs’ Collective Intelligence servers to protect faster against the newest malware variants while barely impacting PC performance.
Thanks to Panda Security’s Collective Intelligence malware and goodware online database, Panda Cloud Antivirus detects more malware than traditional signature-based solutions which take longer to detect the most recent, and therefore most dangerous, variants.
With Panda Cloud Antivirus we introduce a new protection model based on a thin-client agent & server architecture which services malware protection as opposed to locally installed products. By combining local detection technologies with cloud-scanning capabilities and applying non-intrusive interception techniques on the client architecture, Panda Cloud Antivirus provides some of the best protection with a lightweight antivirus thin-client agent that barely consumes any PC resources.
Our objective is to release a solution based on this new protection model which helps solve the malware problem by improving user experience. After almost 20 years fighting viruses and malware we have changed our mentality at Panda. We would like to open ourselves to you and show you how we pretend to do things. In this blog we’ll explain in depth how this new model works in order to help improve it with you, our users.
As for the beta objectives, we’re interested in collecting information from betatesters, evaluators, testers, etc. that can provide feedback on how the new protection model works under different scenarios in order to help us verify it as a valid model and to adapt it to real life.
Of course keep in mind that this is still beta code and as such we continue improving and tuning both the cloud architecture and detection techniques as well as the agent architecture, specially now during the initial phases. We’ll progressively release new versions which you’ll be able to use as we improve the overall protection and user experience.
Feel free to download Panda Cloud Antivirus if you haven’t done so yet. For suggestions please use the form located at www.cloudantivirus.com and for submitting bugs please use beta@pandasecurity.com.
Safe surfing,
Pedro Bustamante
Senior Research Advisor
http://research.pandasecurity.com
Panda Security specializes in the development of endpoint security products and is part of the WatchGuard portfolio of IT security solutions. Initially focused on the development of antivirus software, the company has since expanded its line of business to advanced cyber-security services with technology for preventing cyber-crime.
65 comments
Dear Pedro,
I have been using panda for about 4 years. in fact i am a great fan of it or better to say i love it.
Also i am aware of all of your technologies like collective intelligence and so on.
Panda has been lighter and faster since 2 years ago. but i think its detection rate is sloping down. there are so many viruses that Panda is not aware of or really delays in detecting them comparing to other brands. i am sure it is not the result of your CI technology!
One of the newest, most dangerous and WIDESPREAD viruses that panda still unable to disinfect it, is a virus called “Virut”. it is even detected by Dr.Web or Virobot but Panda has not yet added it to its Signature.
So could you please tell me more about CI or CLOUD AV benefits vs other traditional virus engines that are successful in critical virus incidents.
i still love Panda But i think it must invest on its infrastructure rather than the priodical tools and brands like non-existant Nanoscan or ex-totalscan that were just for a while.
remember you are a 18 year old company. try not to be defeted by some freshmen like Eset or Kaspersky.
What do you mean “It is extremely light as all the work is done in the cloud”. Does it upload the files to the cloud for scanning? Or some sort of hashes are sent? How will this affect network traffic? And how will it behave on systems that are not always connected (like laptops)?
Please consider publishing a FAQ?
Can not install. Error message states that PC-Cillin Antivirus must be uninstalled. Searched hard drive & registry for this program. It does not exist. I know it is produced by Trend Micro. Trend is not on my hard drive either. Can not find a support location for Panda Cloud
It would be nice if you give us a bit more information about how it is supposed to work this cloud antivirus, what kind of information is sent from our PCs? How much of our internet bandwidth will take up? This blog is a good tool to give us more information so we can do a better testing and give you a more precise and useful feedback.
Thanks.
Hello Sara,
I be in complete agreement with you. I deinstalled my Desktop Secure at once and installed CAV. It shows a green light no risk. I downloaded an ipscnner which is normaly blocked with the realtimscan. But nothing happens. I will not think about other files on my harddisk.
It should be mandatory to have a full PC Scan before you show a green light!
For me i confirm, i will not show this to any of my customers . – sorry.
Back to real Virusprotection. Also i´m glad to have TruePrevent so what is that for ???
regards Thomas
I am running Vista x64, as you know x32 applications get installed to:
C:Program Files (x86)
Which emulates having a x32 system on x64…however after trying to install this, I get this error:
http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/1160/cannot.jpg
You may want to fix this problem, as this is not impressive and you’ll lose a lot of endusers because of it!
Well, even trying to run it in Compatiability Mode does not work, as can be seen by this screenshot!:
http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/4313/cannot2.jpg
Please release some screenshots and tell us more about Cloud’s features in details. Thank you
“…We would like to open ourselves to you and show you how we pretend to do things…”
Just “pretend” that this is a “real” a product. Great concept!
You fail.
I just tried it and scan froze my system.
I personally don’t feel safe with this whole concept of opening up my system to online scans. If you require a program that gives real time protection why not just try out PC Tools Threatfire instead. It detects threats by their behavior, & doesn’t require on line scans of your personal info! Also it has a root-kit scanner built into it & it’s free for home use.
I’ve just tried it, and it works amazingly for me! So… yeah.
please put x64 version
Thank you brbgtgp ! So what are they pretending to be ?
@sara, sorry you caught Virut, it’s a really nasty one. Please send to virus@pandasecurity.com if it’s still not detected.
@soum, no files and no personal information is sent to the cloud. Only hashes for signature detection and behavioral traces for heuristic detection are sent to the cloud.
@John, Panda Cloud Antivirus installer detects if there’s a previously installed AV and simply calls the uninstaller of that other AV. If you still have traces left in your computer of PC-Cillin see if you can uninstall it completely from Control Panel. If you’ve already uninstalled PC-Cillin, check for files and registry entries left over visit Trend support site for an uninstaller.
@Thomas, @Hansen, the OnBackground scan is ocurring after the first reboot once you install. Check “New Protection Model Explained” post for details of how the internals work.
@TheCanadian & @vaski4a, sorry but that’s done in purpose. We’re still testing under 64 bits and under Windows7. As soon as it’s ready we’ll release an updated version.
@brbgtgp, please check the post on “Advanced Logging” to see if you can find the problem.
@IT-Man, the scan from the cloud does not send any personal information. Also the idea behind this concept is not to let go of heuristics, behavioral analysis and anti-rootkit, but to move its resource intensiveness to the cloud where it doesn’t interfere with your PC resources.
First I’d like to say thanks for your answer to my earlier post.
Just one more question…when you state that this program doesn’t use resources how can that be? Does it only scan on demand & not run in the bkgrd? Also doesn’t it tie up band width, not a problem for people with a fast connection, but a major consideration for me as I am stuck with a REALLY SLOW dial-up connection!? Yes there are still thousands of us out here in the sticks of western MA without cable. I even have too many trees in the way for a satellite dish!
Hi Pedro! Looks good so far on my windowsXPsp3 partition
But would not install on my Win 7 OS, when will you have it for that version of OS? Thanks in adavance…..
Why did you remove my comment without giving any response… Am i to honest and Panda doesn’t like that?
It’s about that resellers are stuck with software that is payed for and now is almost worthless…
Rik
Hi,
Are you able to advise us when you will be releasing a version which is compatible with Windows 7 please, as I am very interested in this new concept, and would like to help beta test your new product?
Thanks,
David
@IT-Man, of course it does consume *some* resources, but very few compared to other traditional AV. Right now it averages at 17MB of RAM consumption (the background scanning, without running an on-demand scan). The bandwidth consumption should not really be an issue if you just have it installed and running in the background. If you are running many on-demand scans of many files then you might see some slowdown, but shouldn’t be much even in a modem connection.
@Talan, we’re still testing the 64bit and Windows7 version. Will be released later on.
@Rik, I did not delete your comment. I responded to it as well, but it’s on the other post at http://blog.cloudantivirus.com/2009/04/29/new-protection-model-explained/.
I’d like to test, but I have a X64 version…
I’ll hope will be release soon…
I really want to try it,but now running win 7 x 64.Waiting….:)
Where on the website does it say that it doesn’t work with Vista 64?
@Chuck There’s a link on the bottom to “Help” (http://www.cloudantivirus.com/help/01/en/nnv_en.htm#05.htm). Click on “Installation requirements”
Welcome to the World Panda Cloud Antivirus !!
Congratulations Pedro and all the team at Panda.
Salu2
Marcelo.
@Pedro Bustamante
Looking forward to try on Windows 7…
Hi,
I can’t find the (minimum) system requirements.
I loaded your Beta and uninstalled AVG which I had been successfully using and was very pleased with. I thought with your system that I should do a system scan to see what was on my computer. I have two secondary drives plus my hardrive. My system has 1.5G RAM and a 3.40gHz processor. When I scanned my entire computer, I aborted after 20 hours. I then did my hard drive (75GB) in about 3 hours. My secondary drives, WD and one at 120GB and the other at 150GB, take an extraordinary length of time to scan.
One…is my computer protected even though I have not scanned all my hard drives. For example, if I have a virus on one of the secondary drives and I use that drive, will Panda Cloud catch it before it infects my computer.
Two…I think it would be helpful to advise people installing Panda Cloud whether or not they should perform a complete system scan to gather baseline information.
Incidently, my computer hardrive did have one worm that AVG did not notify me about and so I am pleased with your product.
Chris M. Olson
@Sceptic tester
Hi @Sceptic tester
Pls see here http://www.cloudantivirus.com/help/01/en/nnv_en.htm#05.htm
The minimum requirements that your computer must meet to install Panda Cloud Antivirus are as follows:
* Operating system: Windows Vista 32 (also compatible with Windows Vista SP1 32-bit), Windows XP (32-bit with SP 2 or 3).
* RAM: 64 MB.
* Hard disk free space: 100 MB.
* Browser: Internet Explorer 6.0 or later.
Salu2
Marcelo.
@Marcelo R. Hi Marcelo, good to have you here.
@Chris M. Olson Chris, right after you reboot after installing Panda Cloud Antivirus it launches a BackgroundScan of your entire system. If at the same time you launch an on-demand scan also of your entire system, it could have this effect. We’re seeing how to post some clarifications on this. In the meantime, I suggest you just let it run the Background scan (leave your PC idle during a day or two) to allow PCA to finish the Background scan and to fill its goodware cache. After that the scans will go pretty fast.
I like Panda Cloud better than any other AV I’ve used in the last 10 years. Why, because it doesn’t hijack my whole registry and file system (except Temp. Internet Files….. Pedro, estas oigando?). I have a workaround that leaves my cookies, the ones I want, alone. Batch it !
@echo off
cd C:Program FilesPanda SecurityPanda Cloud Antivirus
net start NanoServiceMain
PSUNMain.exe
net stop NanoServiceMain
cd
exit
Scott
can i use panda cloud with other anti-virus program?
Hi @Sergei
Nop, Cloud Antivirus provides all the protection you need from viruses, malware, etc. Also it is not recommended to run 2 different AV engines at the same time as they can conflict with each other.
I recommend reading this post: Frequently Asked Questions
Salu2
Marcelo.
then , how could i know that Cloud Antivirus protects me from all possible threads?
i’d like to try Cloud Antiviru , but i do not want uninstall my corent av
I installed Windows7 RC on several machines fot test.
But the antivirus didn’t install on this new operating system
I believe this is a good opportunity for you to modify the source code and inslude Windows7 allowing the installation.
I’ll be glad to test it.
Best regards.
Franco Leuzzi
Microsoft ® MVP
Windows Desktop Experience
Whene 64bit and Windows7 version will be avalible? do you have andy date?
will it be a month or a yer?
i would like to try a panda cloud intivirus because my friend recomend to me about these.thanks,and regards.
Why don’t you the management of the Recycle bin more flexible, i.e. option to select and delete all files at one time, not just one by one. Or several files at a time. The problem is I tested Cloud Antivirus with a huge collection of over 5000 viruses. I am impressed by its detection rate, but it is simply impossible to remove all the files from Recycle bin one by one.
@Kamelot, you can do this simply with the shortcut CTRL-SHIFT-D.
One week ago Panda CA detected a suspicious file and it was moved to the Recycle Bin. Now I just saw that the file has disappeared from the Bin with no explanation, and I don’t know if it was malware (and it’s been removed) or not. I think it would be very interesting that, in the Recycle Bin, below the list, to have a little section indicating the “recent actions” of suspicious files (like “The ‘XXX.EXE’ file was not badware and it has been returned to it’s original location”). What do you think?
Hi,
Panda CA failed to detect worm (MD5 382c0a3f283f4e36e29f8ac0c3e076d6) submited to Virustotal, commonly detected by others.
When scan, Panda CA report that Scan has been completely correct. This make me wonder, how on earth can the Collective Intelligent add this worm or any new malware into their database.
@Sailway, it’s detected since yesterday at 16:30as W32/Autorun.ASC.worm.
@Alex Molina this is due to the automatic management of suspicious files. As soon as a suspicious file is entered into the Recycle Bin, it is checked remotely by our Collective Intelligence servers. If it is determined as good, it will be restored. If it’s detected as malware, it will be deleted or disinfected accordingly.
@Pedro Bustamante
But how can the user know if the file entered onto the Recycle Bin was really safe or not? There’s no explanation.
@Alex Molina We don’t know either if its safe or not, that’s why we put it in the Recycle Bin. The moment we put it in the Recycle Bin it’s still “suspicious” while further analysis is done in the Collective Intelligence cloud (analyzing the file, correlating to see if other users have the same file, etc.). Once the analysis is complete, the file is either automatically deleted/disinfected or restored. If it’s deleted/disinfected you should be able to see it in the report file (from the application, click the statistics button then “event report”).
Hello,
http://blog.cloudantivirus.com/ says,
>Where does the music from the video at http://www.cloudantivirus.com come from?
>
>First correct answer gets a free Cloud Antivirus license.
>
>Just kidding, Cloud Antivirus will always be FREE
“Free” but on the site it also says that after the Beta test period some functions in the free version will be disabled. Why should I beta test for Panda if we have to pay for the full version in the future? Or will you give licenses to those who test Beta at the end of the test period? Thanks!
@Mike When it says that the funcions will be disabled it refers only to the “beta version”. Once version 1.0 comes out, a full-featured free version will be available to replace the beta version. Free with full functionality.
When you say “free”, is that free for personal use only, or are there/will there be licenses required for businesses?
A related question — we use AVG and they came out with a new version 8.5. We have to visit every computer on campus to install this update as their “update to 8.5” button doesn’t work. We are also going to have to visit every computer next year when our license runs out, just to change license key (can’t renew the old one). As you can imagine, this is a major drain on human resources. Does/can/will the updates of the actual program (and license, if required) be as seemless as the scans/virus definition updates are now? I’d pay for that. 😉
I’ve worked for a college for over 20 years. I’ve beta tested many AV solutions, and I have to admit I’m seriously impressed. I had an old backup of Thunderbird that I knew had emails with virus attachments. It deleted them out of a compressed file. I have *never* seen that in an AV solution. Well done!
Tim
@Tim Heiya Tim. As far as I know it’ll be “free for personal use”. We might do a Pro version for businesses/networks.
Regarding the updates, yes they’ll be as seamless as now. The upgrades, at least for the free version, will probably be manual. However the Pro version for businesses/networks will have completely transparent upgrades.
Regarding the disinfection of files attached to emails, we’ve had this functionality for quite a while… since 1998 if I remember correctly 🙂
Did I hear “free for educational institutions?”
@Tim I’ll pass it on internally to see if the suggestion is taken into consideration 🙂
This might be better discussed in private, but the basis of my argument is that the kids that are used to having a Panda in their system tray will graduate and lead companies that will want Pandas in their system tray.
I work for the business side of the College, so the cheaper you make it for us, the more likely they will get “hooked” and spend their millions on your security solution after they become successful.
If you want to give my college a free license for eternity because of my actions, feel, umm, free. I know some nuns and people with general good karma.
If not, I can always have everybody download the beta now, and get the free license later. ;D
But like I said, this is probably better discussed in private.
@Tim We have better suited products for networked computers that I’m sure you’ll like as they are following the same path that Panda Cloud Antivirus is leading. Please contact me at pedro.bustamante@pandasecurity.com.
Pedro, we’ve been working on updating 100 PCs. If you price your solution at what that cost us in labor (anywhere from half an hour to two), I’m sure I will be able to beat my boss over the head until he agrees to pay it.
But I like my boss, so can I still get it free?
it really works awesome, thank you panda Cloud Anti Virus
Have installed Panda Cloud on my laptop, and my grand daughters machine, and am drooling at the prospect of getting it on my Windows 7 machine.
Will you, can you, when will you make it compatable for WIN-7 ?
The wait is excruciating !!!
I have installed Panda Cloud on my Asus Eee PC 901. Very impressed with increased speed and response from my mini PC!
Two questions:
1) Is there a plan to provide root kit scanning capability?
2) As new versions of the program are released will the program issue a prompt to download or is there a way to manually check?
Many thanks!
Gav
Looks like beta 2 is up
@Gav Hale Beta2 has just been released and it has improved active rootkit detection. Yes as new versions come out you will get a prompt from the program with a link to download the new version.
More info about Beta2 here:
http://blog.cloudantivirus.com/2009/06/30/cloud-antivirus-beta2-released/
hi i install te new antivirus and looks very good, but i see that there is no firewall for the cloud antivirus.
I think that a good antivirus must have the antivirus protection and a very good and cuztomizable firewall. because the windows firewall is not so good.
Is there going to be a cloud antivirus whith firewall?
@DAVID VEGA Yes eventually we’ll integrate other protection technologies in the future such as behavioural analysis and firewall.
It sounds good that Panda Cloud Antivirus have introduced a new protection model based on a thin-client agent & server architecture which services malware protection as opposed to locally installed products.
I would like to know if there will be changes in the interface of this amazing program once it lives the beta stage.
My question refers to privacy. Panda Cloud seems like a great alternative to paid Antivirus that slow up a computer and take up a lot of space, but how can people be assured that their files are being kept safe and private if they are being sent to and analyzed by a server?
@Jeffrey Murray The short answer is that users can opt out by unchecking the “automatic management of suspicious files” checkbox..
The longer answer is that in the vast majority of the cases the files are not sent to our servers to be analyzed. Only small checksums and signatures of Portable Executable files (.EXE, .COM, etc.) are checked against “the cloud”. In the rare situation where a PE file on your computer being checked that (a) does not exist in our database, + (b) is tagged as suspicious locally and + (c) you have the checkbox of automatic management of suspicious files checked, then and only then is the file sent to our servers for further analysis.