The origins of the new Panda Free Antivirus

The launch of Panda Security’s 2015 product lineup comes with a surprise.

Panda Cloud Antivirus has become Panda Free Antivirus. But what are the differences between the products? What can you expect from the best FREE antivirus? What does the future hold in terms of IT security?

Our colleague Herve Lambert, Consumer Product Marketing Manager at Panda, has been answering our questions…

• Where has Panda Free Antivirus sprung from?

Panda Free Antivirus is an evolution of our first cloud-based antivirus: Panda Cloud Antivirus. Free AV was really created five years ago when we launched our first cloud-based antivirus. That decision illustrated our commitment to innovation and broke with the traditional protection model based on local signature files.

• And what about downloads?

Over the last five years we’ve had around 45-50 million downloads and in 2014 we’re heading towards eight million. What’s more, our indicators suggest that there is a loyal product user base that is satisfied with the product, and that’s the best thing of all.

• What was the impact of Panda Cloud Antivirus five years ago?

The first thing we saw was the enormous potential of cloud architecture as this new model of communication, detection and disinfection significantly improved all our ratios.

On the other hand, it also reduced the time needed to discover, detect and disinfect any malware, collectively and automatically. The impact was incredible and it had an immediate effect on our position in the market. This was a great step forwards for us.

However, these five years have flown by, and our colleagues in the lab and the technicians responsible for developing this new model never cease to include new and more efficient protection systems and technologies, which at the same time are less intrusive.

The result of these efforts is called ‘XMT’, a new detection engine included in all Panda’s consumer antivirus solutions.

• What is XMT and what does the new engine offer?

XMT stands for “Extreme Malware Terminator”. This is how we refer to the whole set of new technologies that drive the new engine in Panda’s products. It’s lighter, more efficient and easier to use.

There’s no doubt that this is a reference point for the industry. XMT is many things in one. We’re talking about:

1. New technological architecture
2. New interception technologies
3. New heuristic technologies
4. New contextual technologies
5. New means of detection, disinfection, informing and protecting Panda Security users

So what does this mean for our users? It means more security and more protection against known and unknown threats.

XMT allows us to take an aggressive stance against malware. We have built it from scratch, thinking of the most important things: our customers and what they need:

1. Protection
2. Resource friendly
3. Ease of use

• Why does this engine represent a change in terms of security?

Everything would suggest we are going in the right direction. The latest comparative reviews and studies from independent laboratories such as AV- Comparatives, AV- Test and Virus Bulletin have highlighted the excellent results of the Panda technologies.

Moreover, we offer excellent security and protection without affecting device performance (PCs, laptops, tablets), one of the great advantages of cloud-based protection.

• We’ve spoken about the past and the present. What about the future?

The future is full of promise and we certainly won’t be bored J.The bad guys are getting badder and their goal is to get very, very rich.

The era of the ‘Internet of Things’ has opened new opportunities for them to achieve this goal and we will have to adapt IT security approaches to face new eras and change protection systems to tackle new problems.

One such example is multi-device protection. Nowadays this is a basic need, yet many users don’t think about it until something goes wrong, and the truth is that this happens everyday.

All our users -whether children, parents, lawyers or teachers- have to be aware of the new threats. They have to think about the level of security they want for their digital lives and put a value on their digital identity and the protection they need.

At Panda we still have much to do. Every day represents a new challenge. The bad guys won’t let up… and neither will we.