The ambiguity of security. Perception vs. reality
Nowadays, IT security is experiencing a rather contradictory situation. On the one hand, there seem to be fewer threats than ever. Mass infections, that not long ago often dominated the headlines, have almost disappeared. Users are untroubled and confident, protected by antivirus protection and security solutions that, at a glance, are all the same. It seems that everything is fine and under control.
But the reality is very different and all data indicates that malware is increasing dramatically. PandaLabs detected more viruses and threats in 2006 than in the previous 15 years combined. And it's not just a matter of quantity. The nature of threats has also changed: For example, malware that uses stealth techniques grew by over 32,000 percent between 2003 and 2006. Furthermore, the malware that has increased most over the last few years is designed to fraudulently obtain financial profit.
What's going on? The motivation of malware authors has changed. They no longer seek notoriety and to make the headlines, but aim to go unnoticed in order to make easy money. As a result, we are witnessing a true silent epidemic that threatens to bury all the laboratories in the industry under a huge avalanche of malware, while more users are being infected without realizing.
Panda Security’s response: A new security model
How is Panda responding to this situation? Firstly, by collecting data that helps us to confirm what is actually happening. To do this, we have set up an ambitious online study available at www.infectedornot.com, in which you can take part. The results are overwhelming: according to our data, over half of the computers that have taken part in the study, and which in theory are protected by antivirus protection, are infected.
To sum up, traditional protection is not working as effectively as it should. For this reason, we have developed a new and revolutionary security model called “Collective Intelligence”, which is based on three pillars:
- Collection of data from the Web community. The system centrally collects and stores behavioral patterns of programs, file traces, new malware samples, etc. This data comes from Panda users, and from other companies and collaborators. This extensive capacity to collect information provides greater visibility of active Internet threats.
- Automatic leverage of data. The system automatically analyzes and classifies the thousands of new samples received every day. To do this, an expert system correlates the data received from the community with PandaLab's extensive malware knowledge base. The system automatically returns verdicts (malware or goodware) on the new files received, thereby drastically reducing the manual workload at PandaLabs.
- Making the knowledge available. This knowledge is delivered to users as Web services or through signature file updates.
We are putting this new approach into practice in our new range of 2.0 solutions (Malware Radar, NanoScan, TotalScan), which will represent a leap forward compared to traditional solutions.
| Traditional security solutions |
|
Panda 2.0 security solutions |
| Desktop |
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Online |
| Intelligence is on the PC. Consequences: drop in performance, incompatibility problems |
Intelligence is in the Internet, in Panda’s knowledge base. Consequences: faster solutions with a greater detection capacity |
| One new product version a year on average |
Perpetual beta, product constantly improving |
A new organization to confront the future successfully.
Panda Security has also taken an important step forward on an organizational and financial level.
Two major investment groups have recently entered in Panda's share capital in order to embark upon a major international expansion plan, consolidate the leading position of Panda in the IT security market, and accelerate the development of new technologies.
Panda has also hired a new CEO , Jorge Dinares , who now has executive responsibility for the entire group, present in more than 50 countries.
A new brand for a new Panda
Our previous brand did not adequately transmit our direction towards global security. Neither did it transmit our commitment to change or our innovation capacity, nor the solid and multinational nature of our company.
For this reason, we now have a new brand that better reflects the essence of what we are, what we are doing and our vision of the future.