Panda Security has developed a tool called Panda Cloud Test File to allow testers and users verify whether their Panda product can successfully connect to the Collective Intelligence cloud-scanning servers.
Steps to test the connection
- Download the test file PandaCloudTestFile.rar.
- Unzip it to your computer (password:panda).
- If the file is detected as a virus, the connection is working properly. Otherwise, it means the protection is not connecting to Panda cloud-scanning servers because the file is only detected by the Collective Intelligence.
DISCLAIMER: This file is *not malicious*. If it is detected, it simply means your Panda product is connecting correctly to the Collective Intelligence cloud-scanning servers.
Why do we use Cloud-based analysis?
Former signature-based technologies have proven to be inefficient when managing current malware threats. Moreover, the exponentially increasing size of the local database impacts the performance in most of the operating systems, in particular, macOS, significantly.
Consequently, Panda Security relies on the Cloud for the analysis of potential malicious files such as binaries, scripts, executables, etc. This excludes some traditional text/signature based files such as eicar, though. For testing purposes, Panda Security suggests the use of the Panda Cloud Test File tool, whose internal structure is not a text-based file, but an executable file.