What is your security setup these days?

Softpedia: On the Panda Cloud Antivirus blog, you mention that when there is no Internet connection available, the antivirus will use a locally stored cache of the Collective Intelligence. Since it's obvious that this cache gets updated regularly, isn't this similar to the signatures update of a classic antivirus program? Please elaborate.

Pedro Bustamante: Yes, as mentioned above, Panda Cloud Antivirus keeps a local cache of Collective Intelligence which gets updated as needed. However, it's not quite the same as the traditional signature updates which are always incremental (always adding signatures, not taking them out). The local cache of Panda Cloud Antivirus is a "moving target" of what the community "sees" out there circulating in the wild. The fact that we're not relying on signature updates as the main protection model anymore, relieves us from having to push down very frequent updates to the client, with the bandwidth consumption and CPU/RAM consumption for patching and loading the signature file which that process ends up eating.

The local cache also includes other types of generic signatures, generic disinfection routines and non-PE signatures. These are used mostly for off-line operation and for certain type of malware. The local cache contains less than 10% of the full knowledge of Collective Intelligence. We believe that as malware becomes more and more dynamic and the number of total malware continues growing exponentially, this % will be reduced over time.

Softpedia: Since it is not an antivirus in itself but more of an agent, so it does not have an AV engine, can Panda Cloud Antivirus coexist with full-fledged protection suites such as Panda Internet Security, Norton AV, Kaspersky, BitDefender or NOD32?

Pedro Bustamante: Actually the agent does have a signature + heuristic engine which is optimized to work in off-line mode. That's one of the reasons for the performance optimization we've been able to do. But its not only the engine that makes AVs incompatible with each other. As AVs are some of the most complex applications there exist due to the interactivity they need to have with the host Operating System, the incompatibilities come from the hooks and interceptions they need to perform all over the system. Therefore even though it's a different type of AV, it's still an AV and therefore cannot be run alongside other vendors' AVs.

Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/The-Insides-of-Panda-Cloud-Antivirus-111793.shtml#q4

Interesting article if you get a chance to read it.

Regards,
-BenMar

 

nice article, thx for sharing

it conclude my decision for panda cloud.

btw it run nice on my cousin pc

 

Windows 7 Home Premium x86

Firewall:
Linksys NAT Router
Look’n’Stop Firewall 2.07 (Phant0m’s Ruleset)

Anti-Virus:
Emsisoft Anti-Malware 5.1.0.14
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Pro 1.51.0.1200

HIPS/IDS/Blocking/Hardening:
DefenseWall HIPS/Personal Firewall 3.13
EMET 2.1 (Internet facing applications & MS Office)
ClearCloud DNS
WinPatrol Plus 20.5.2011.0
SpywareBlaster 4.4 (Ad-Aware custom blocking)

Resident On Demand Scanners:
Hitman Pro 3.5.7 Build 122 Beta
Mischel TrojanHunter 5.3 (994)
Norton Power Eraser 1.7.0.3
Sophos Anti-Rootkit 1.5.4
Avast Anti-Rootkit 0.9.6
Kaspersky TDSSKiller 2.5.3.0

 

@G1111 : Nice set up as usual. I Like it

 

Thanks blasev, everything working good together although will have to change to Norton DNS come September 1.

 

I agree. G1111 has had a great setup for a while

 

good set of tools any chances you can suggest others how to minimize that?

 

testing mamutu and so far so good

 

If I really had to minimize I would keep LooknStop (with Phant0m's rules), Emsisoft AM, DefenseWall and EMET as active and Hitman Pro, MBAM and Kaspersky TDSSKiller as on demand scanners.

If I had to choose just one program it would be DefenseWall.

My current setup is not the lightest, but I have had no conflicts and my computer is fast. I mostly change when a new version of a program comes out that is buggy or doesn't play well with other software. I was a longtime user of Outpost and Kaspersky until I started having conflicts as their programs got more bloated. I always liked the modular, layered approach rather than security suites.

 

Are you testing Mamutu along side ESET?

 

Well said

 

@CJsDad yes i am and they like each other and very light

 

OK now the change to Panda Cloud is complete including Avatar. This 1.5 version is a real gem...

 

Rut oh. Mongol has gone over to the dark side or maybe its the light lmao Like the avatar BTW

 

Shared Network:
Actiontec Modem with SPI Firewall
Norton DNS (+ Advertising, Scam Sites) [Comodo Secure DNS alternate]

Real-time Protection:
Avast! Free Antivirus (only Network, WebRep, Web Shield) [Password Protected]
Comodo Firewall Pro (no Antivirus) [Password Protected]
Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware Pro (+ Website Blocking)
Panda Cloud Antivirus (no Security Toolbar) [Denied UI from others]
WinPatrol Free Cloud Edition

System (Windows 7 Pro 64-bit SP1):
Enabled DEP, SEHOP, ASLR, Default-Deny SRP, Silent UAC
Disabled Windows Firewall, System Restore, Internet Explorer, Autorun/Autoplay
Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit
Spybot - Search & Destroy Immunize

Firefox 4.0.1:
Adblock Plus (Malware Domains subscription)
BitDefender TrafficLight
LastPass
LinkExtend
SandBoxie Free (+ DropRights & Internet Access Restrictions) [Lock Configuration]

On-demand Scanning:
ArcaVir MicroScan
Avira Free (no Guard)
BitDefender Free
BugBopper
Comodo Cleaning Essentials
Hitman Pro
Microsoft Standalone System Sweeper
Trend Micro HouseCall

Analyzers:
http://camas.comodo.com/
Sysinternals Autoruns
http://www.urlvoid.com/
VirusTotalUploader

Updates:
Freeware Files RSS, Freeware Guide
KC Softwares SUMo

Backup:
Paragon Backup & Recovery Home Special Edition


Ubuntu Natty Netbook:
Firefox: AppArmor Default, Adblock Plus, LastPass, TrafficLight, WOT
BitDefender Free, ClamAV, rkhunter
Regularly updated. Sudo only, no root. Prey active.

 

How are you using Panda Cloud together with MBAM and Avast? Isn't there some incompatibilities with that setup?

 

@J_L

You have a lot of security related products installed. Do you really use all of them? Do you really need all of them?

Sul.

 

@1chaoticadult: Avast only scans network traffic. MBAM is on-execution. Panda Cloud is on-access.

@Sully: Yes, I use all of them. Not really, but I like to.

 

Thats what I thought... can't help yourself, eh?

I used to be like that. Now I am exactly the opposite. Funny how things like that work isn't it?

Sul.

 

+1.

Same, here.

 

I use the setup from my signature (it's Panda's Cloud AV Pro).

I own licenses (lifetime or annual) for the following software:
Norton AV 2011, Sandboxie, Look’n’Stop Firewall and WinPatrol Plus.

Can I get quick advice fro someone more experienced, what to add & what to remove. The most important to me is lightness, lite setup which provide great security.

 

Just add sandboxie.
Panda cloud is nice and light. GOod AV
Mamutu is a great behavior blocker
Sandboxie will isolate anything you want from getting into your system.
You have win 7 firewall for traffic monitoring.
Sandboxie, mamutu and panda are all very light.
You can also add a DNS service like comodo or norton.
Of course you should also have EMET running and UAC set to max.

 

Just hate how these cloud products detection drop from 99 percent to 79 percent when they loose internet activity.

Anyways here's a cool trick. Set your pc date to 2038. Then try and see if any network applications work.

 

Currently running Panda Cloud Antivirus 1.9 Beta and Sandboxie on my netbook. DefenseWall FW + HIPS v3.13 on my main PC.

 

Panda cloud 1.9 beta? Didn't they just release 1.5 into RC?