Avira


Avira Operations GmbH & Co. KG is a German multinational computer security software company mainly known for their antivirus software Avira Free Security.
Avira was founded in 2006, but the anti virus application is under active development since 1986 through its predecessor company H+BEDV Datentechnik GmbH.
As of 2012, Avira software is estimated to have over 100 million customers. In June 2012, Avira ranked sixth in the antivirus market share report from OPSWAT.
Avira's headquarters are located near Lake Constance, in Tettnang, Germany. The company has additional offices in the USA, China, Romania, and the Netherlands.
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.

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 15MB 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.

Advance Heuristic

Avira products contain heuristics that can proactively uncover unknown malware, 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, because in Windows 8 and later the Microsoft Certification Program forces developers to use interfaces introduced in Windows Vista.

Protection Cloud

Avira Protection Cloud was first introduced in version 2013. It uses information available via the Internet 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.

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, intelligence 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.

Products

Windows

Avira offers the following security products and tools for Microsoft Windows:
Avira offers the following security applications for mobile devices running Android and iOS:
it provide additional Safe browsing, Hourly update and free tech support.
;Avira Mobile Security for iOS: Free edition for iOS devices, such as iPhone and iPad.

Comprehensive solutions

Avira Prime is compatible with Windows, OSX, iOS, and Android operating systems and related devices and is available to consumers in 5- and 25-device editions, dubbed "Avira Prime" and "Avira Prime Unlimited" respectively.
Subscriptions are in 30-day and 1-year increments.

Discontinued platforms

Avira formerly offered free antivirus software for Unix and Linux. That was discontinued in 2013, although updates were supplied until June 2016.

Security vulnerabilities

In 2005, Avira was hit by ACE archive buffer overflow vulnerability. A remote attacker could have exploited this vulnerability by crafting an ACE archive and delivering it via a malicious web page or e-mail. A buffer overflow could occur when Avira scanned the malicious archive. That would have allowed the attacker to execute arbitrary code on the affected system.
In 2010, Avira Management Console was hit by the use-after-free remote code execution vulnerability. The vulnerability allowed remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on vulnerable installations of Avira Management Console. Authentication was not required to exploit the vulnerability.
In 2013, Avira engines were hit by a 0-day vulnerability that allowed attackers to get access to a customer's PC. The bug was found in the avipbb.sys driver file and allowed privilege escalation.

Awards and Reviews

In January 2008, Anti-Malware Test Lab gave Avira "gold" status for proactive virus detection and detection/removal of rootkits.
AV-Comparatives awarded Avira its "AV Product of the Year" award in its "Summary Report 2008."
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.
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.
Avira was among the first companies to receive OESIS OK Gold Certification, 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 in the "malware on demand" detection test and earned a 99% score in the "adware/spyware on demand" test.
AV-Comparatives gave Avira its Silver award in its "Summary Report 2010."
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.
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.
Avira has also received numerous VB100 awards.
AV-Comparatives awarded Avira its "AV Product of the Year" award in its "Summary Report 2016."