Avira

Coordinates: 47°39′42.613″N 9°35′31.371″E / 47.66183694°N 9.59204750°E / 47.66183694; 9.59204750

Avira Operations GmbH & Co. KG
Native name
 H+BEDV Datentechnik GmbH
Kommanditgesellschaft
Industry Computer software
Founded Germany (1986)
Founder Tjark Auerbach
Headquarters Tettnang, Germany[1]
Key people
 Travis Witteveen – CEO
Products Antivirus software
Number of employees
 500+ [1]
Website www.avira.com

Avira Operations GmbH & Co. KG is a multinational and family-owned company based in Germany that provides antivirus software, Internet Security, Privacy, Identity and Performance tools for computers, smartphones, servers and networks, delivered as both software and cloud-based services.

Avira's headquarters are located near Lake Constance, in Tettnang, Germany. The company has additional European offices in Munich, Germany and Bucharest, Romania. Avira also has sales and marketing offices in Beijing, China and in Burlingame, California, USA Silicon Valley.[2]

With an estimated 9.6% of global market share according to OPSWAT, and over 100 million customers, Avira was considered the sixth-largest antivirus vendor in 2012.[1][3]

The company supports the Auerbach Stiftung, a foundation created by the company's founder, Tjark Auerbach. It promotes charitable and social projects, the arts, culture and science.[1]


Technology

Virus Definition

Avira periodically "cleans out" its virus definition files, replacing specific signatures with generic ones for a general increase in performance and scanning speed. A 15 MB database clean-out was made on 27 October 2008, causing problems to the users of the Free edition because of its large size and Avira's slow Free edition servers. Avira responded by reducing the size of the individual update files, delivering less data in each update. Nowadays there are 32 smaller definition files that are updated regularly in order to avoid peaks in the download of the updates.[4]

Advance Heuristic (AHeAD)

Avira products contain heuristics that can proactively uncover unknown malware, i.e. before a special virus signature to combat the damaging element has been created and before a virus guard update has been sent.

Heuristic virus detection involves extensive analysis and investigation of the affected codes for functions typical of malware. If the code being scanned exhibits these characteristic features it is reported as being suspicious, although not necessarily malware; the user decides whether to act on or ignore the warning.

ProActiv

The ProActiv component uses rule sets developed by the Avira Malware Research Center to identify suspicious behavior. The rule sets are supplied by Avira databases. ProActiv sends information on suspicious programs to the Avira databases for logging.

Firewall

Avira removed their own firewall technology from 2014 onwards, with protection supplied instead by Windows Firewall (Windows 7 and after), because in Windows 8 and later the Microsoft Certification Program forces developers to use interfaces introduced in Windows Vista.[5]

Protection Cloud

Avira Protection Cloud (APC) was first introduced in version 2013. It uses information available via the Internet (cloud computing) to improve detection and affect system performance less. This technology was implemented in all paid 2013 products. APC was initially only used during a manual quick system scan; later it was extended to real-time protection. This improved Avira's score in the AV-Comparatives and Report from September 2013. [6]

Partners

Avira offers its antivirus engine in the form of a software development kit to implement in complementary products. Strategic and technology partners of Avira include Canonical, CYAN Networks, IBM, itelligence AG, Microsoft, novell, OPSWAT, Synergy Systems and others.

On 4 September 2014 Avira announced a partnership with Dropbox, to combine Avira's security with Dropbox's "sync and share" capabilities.[7]

Products

Windows

Avira Internet Security

Avira Internet Security 2013 in Windows 7
Initial release 1988
Stable release 15.0.23.58 (October 26, 2016 (2016-10-26)) [±][8]
Operating system Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, and XP
Available in Multilingual
Type Antivirus
License Proprietary
Website www.avira.com

Avira offers the following security products and tools for Microsoft Windows:[9][10]

  1. Avira Free Antivirus: the free edition antivirus/anti-spyware, for non-commercial use, with promotional pop-ups.[11]
  2. Avira Antivirus Pro: the premium edition antivirus/anti-spyware.[12]
  3. Avira System Speedup: a suite of PC tune-up tools.[13]
  4. Avira Internet Security Suite: consists of Antivirus Pro + System Speedup.[14]
  5. Avira Ultimate Protection Suite: consists of Internet Security Suite + additional PC maintenance tools (e.g. SuperEasy Driver Updater).[15]
  6. Avira Rescue System: a set of free tools that include a utility used to write a Linux-based bootable CD. It can be used to clean an unbootable PC, and is also able to find malware that hides when the host's operating system is active (e.g., some rootkits). The tool contains the antivirus program and the virus database current at the time of download. It boots the machine into the antivirus program, then scans for and removes malware, and restores normal boot and operation if necessary. It is updated frequently so that the most recent security updates are always available.[16]

OS X

Avira Free Mac Security for Mac: Runs on OS X 10.9 and above.[17]

Android and iOS

Avira offers the following security applications for mobile devices running Android and iOS:

  1. Avira Antivirus Security for Android: free application for Android, runs on versions 2.2 and above.[18]
  2. Avira Antivirus Security Pro for Android: premium edition for Android, runs on versions 2.2 and above. Available as an upgrade from within the free application.
    it provide additional Safe browsing,Hourly update and free tech support.
  3. Avira Mobile Security for iOS: free edition for iOS devices, such as iPhone and iPad.[19]

Other platforms

Avira formerly offered free antivirus software for Unix and Linux, but this was discontinued in 2013, although updates were supplied until June 2016.[20]

Awards and Reviews

In January 2008 Anti-Malware Test Lab gave Avira "gold" status for proactive virus detection and detection/removal of rootkits.[21]

AV-Comparatives awarded Avira its "AV Product of the Year" award in its "Summary Report 2008."[22]

In April 2009 PC Pro awarded Avira Premium Security Suite 9 the maximum six stars and a place on its A-list for Internet security software.[23]

In August 2009 Avira performed at a 98.9% percent overall malware detection rate, and was the fastest for both on-demand scans and on-access scans conducted by PC World magazine, which ranked it first on its website.[24] Avira was among the first companies to receive OESIS OK Gold Certification,[25] indicating that both the antispyware and antivirus components of several of its security products achieved the maximum compatibility score with widespread network technologies such as SSL/TLS VPN and Network Access Control from companies including Juniper Networks, Cisco Systems, and SonicWALL.

In February 2010 testing by firm AV-TEST, Avira tied for first place (with another German company) in the "malware on demand" detection test and earned a 99% score in the "adware/spyware on demand" test.[26]

AV-Comparatives gave Avira its Silver award (for 99.5% detection rate) in its "Summary Report 2010."[27]

For 2012, AV-Comparatives awarded Avira with "gold" status for its 99.6% performance in the "On-Demand Malware Detection" category and classified Avira as a "Top Rated" product overall for that year.[28]

In the AV-Comparatives August 2014 "Real-World Protection Test," with 669 total test cases tried against various security products, Avira tied for first place.[29]

Avira has also received numerous VB100 awards.[30]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "About Avira". Avira.com. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
  2. ↑ "Avira Contacts Page". Avira.com. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  3. ↑ OPSWAT. "Market Share Report June 2012". Retrieved 30 July 2012.
  4. ↑ "AVIRA News – Free version: Avira optimizes update system". Avira.com. 17 November 2009. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
  5. ↑ "TDI filters and LSPs are not allowed - Windows 8.1 HCK".
  6. ↑ AV-Comparative RealWorld Test September Fact Sheet (PDF)
  7. ↑ "Avira Partners with Dropbox to Bring Secure Sync and Share to Millions Globally". Avira.com.
  8. ↑ "Avira Internet Security - Download". www.avira.com website. Avira. 27 September 2012. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
  9. ↑ "Avira Official Store". Avira.com. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  10. ↑ "Avira Download Center". Avira.com. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  11. ↑ "Avira Free Antivirus Product Page". Avira.com. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  12. ↑ "Avira Antivirus Pro Product Page". Avira.com. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  13. ↑ "Avira System Speedup Product Page". Avira.com. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  14. ↑ "Avira Internet Security Suite Product Page". Avira.com. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  15. ↑ "Avira Ultimate Protection Suite Product Page". Avira.com. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  16. ↑ "Avira AntiVir Rescue System". Avira.com. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
  17. ↑ "Avira Free Antivirus for Mac Product Page". Avira.com. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
  18. ↑ "Avira Antivirus Security on Google Play". Avira.com. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  19. ↑ "Avira Mobile Security on iTunes". Avira.com. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  20. ↑ "Discontinuation of Antivirus solutions for Linux systems on June 30th 2016". Avira.com. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  21. ↑ "Anti-Malware Test Lab". Anti-malware-test.com. Archived from the original on 19 November 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
  22. ↑ "Summary Report 2008" (PDF). av-comparatives.org.
  23. ↑ "Avira Premium Security Suite 9 review" at PC Pro (27 July 2010)
  24. ↑ "Avira AntiVir Personal" by Erik Larkin, PC World (24 August 2009)
  25. ↑ "Awards for Avira products". Avira.com. Archived from the original on 7 September 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
  26. ↑ "AV-Test release latest results" (2 September 2008)
  27. ↑ "Summary Report 2010" (PDF). av-comparatives.org. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  28. ↑ "Summary Report 2012" (PDF). av-comparatives.org. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  29. ↑ "Factsheet August 2014 Real-World Protection Test" (PDF). av-comparatives.org. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  30. ↑ "Virus Bulletin: VB100 results overview – Avira". Virusbtn.com. Retrieved 24 September 2014.

External links

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