How the Cloud Antivirus Works and What Are Its Advantages?

In general, the role of cloud antivirus is to identify and eliminate malware from devices. Whether through real-time scanning - used to constantly monitor the machine and analyze downloads, for example - or by scanning, which investigates files and software already installed on these devices. In this text, we will clarify how the cloud antivirus works and what are its advantages.

The Cloud

Antiviruses are elements known to most users when it comes to digital security. But have you heard of the cloud? Do you know how this feature works? Before talking about the antivirus itself, let's explain what the cloud really is, and in what situations it can be useful.

Mainly, cloud computing is used to store data on the internet through an external server. Thus, this data is not stored on the user's computer, tablet, or cell phone. They stay with this provider, which manages storage. Therefore, to access the files, you only need to connect to the internet and the website that offers the cloud storage service. Google Drive and Dropbox are examples of such sites.

Resources

As a result, with this type of resource, cloud files are protected from any failures that may occur on the devices. Above all, if certain files in a folder on the computer are corrupted by malware, or the machine crashes and cannot be recovered, the data will still be available in the cloud and can be accessed from any other device with an internet connection. Likewise, file backup can also be done through cloud storage. You do not need pen drives or external hard drives, which makes the process easier and simpler.

In addition, cloud storage is also very useful, for example, when exchanging smartphones. Who has never been too lazy to transfer photos from the old cell phone to the new one, or even to the computer? Namely, with cloud computing, photos can now be saved in applications like Google Photos and stored on the internet. Thus, you can even delete the images from the old smartphone, as they will be saved in the cloud. To access them, just enter the internet, or the storage applications, by the new cell phone.

The Cloud Antivirus

So, now that you know a little more about how cloud computing works, it's time to clarify what the cloud antivirus is. Basically, just like the files, we store in Dropbox or Drive, antivirus in the cloud is also stored on an external server. In this way, only one "client" program is installed on the user's device. This customer connects to the security provider, who analyzes the machine data and sends reports and against protection measures.

Certainly, the main advantage of cloud antivirus is speed. Traditional antiviruses can take up a lot of space and require a lot of processing power from the device. Full system scans often take hours to complete. This can slow down your computer and affect the operation of various software, which does not perform as expected due to the slowness of the system. As the analysis of cloud antivirus takes place on an external server, specific to the function and with the entire structure of a data center, there is no overload on the user's device and the results of the analyzes are presented more quickly.

Advantage of Cloud Antivirus

However, speed is not the only advantage of cloud antivirus. Among other features, traditional antivirus has a signature database, in which snippets of malware code are stored. When analyzing a file or software, antiviruses scan their codes and, if they match the malware codes available in the database, they are identified as malicious. For devices to be always protected, companies must constantly update this database, with new malware codes that are identified. Therefore, it is extremely important that users always update security applications. So that the signature database has the latest malware codes, offering greater protection to devices.

Cloud Antivirus Management

So, as they are housed in the cloud and are managed by a security provider, cloud antiviruses do not rely on user updates to keep the subscription database up to date. Thus, as soon as the company detects new malware, the code is already inserted in the “blacklist” and, as soon as the external server is updated, the user is already protected against the new malware. Likewise, the “white list” is also updated. However, the white list is the opposite of the blacklist: it contains a series of files and software considered safe, to avoid the detection of false positives. Due to heuristic analysis, false positives may appear in the scans.

The heuristic analysis consists of detecting suspicious behavior in software and files, such as automatic replication and data changes. It is used to complement the subscription database, which is not always up to date. However, suspicious behavior is sometimes identified in secure applications, generating false positives. Therefore, it is important to keep both the blacklist updated, so that the latest malware can be identified, and the white list, to avoid the detection of false positives. In this context, cloud outperforms traditional antivirus, for constantly updating these lists, without the need for user intervention.

Finally, a disadvantage of cloud antivirus is the need for an internet connection. If the user is not logged in, the device may be temporarily unprotected. To define the best type of antivirus, always count on the help of a company specialized in internet security, such as Protegent.