Avira

Coordinates: 47°39′42.613″N 9°35′31.371″E / 47.66183694°N 9.59204750°E / 47.66183694; 9.59204750

Avira Operations GmbH & Co. KG

Type	Kommanditgesellschaft
Industry	Computer software
Founded	Germany (1986)
Founder	Tjark Auerbach
Headquarters	Tettnang, Germany[1]
Key people	Travis Witteveen – CEO
Products	Antivirus software
Number of employees	500+ [1]
Website	www.avira.com

Avira Operations GmbH & Co. KG is a German multinational and family-owned antivirus software company that provides IT-security for computers, smartphones, servers and networks – delivered as both software and cloud-based services.

Avira’s headquarters are located near Lake Constance, in Tettnang, Germany, and the company has additional European offices in Munich, Bucharest, and the Netherlands. Avira also has offices in Japan and China, as well as an R&D facility in the USA’s Silicon Valley.^[2]

With an estimated 9.6% of global market share according to OPSWAT, and over 100 million customers, Avira was considered the sixth largest antivirus vendor in 2012.^[1][3]

The company supports the Auerbach Stiftung, a foundation created by the company's founder, Tjark Auerbach. It promotes charitable and social projects as well as the arts, culture and science.^[1]

History

Avira Company History timeline:^[4]

1986 – Electrical engineer Tjark Auerbach(Born:1957) and a partner started IT company H+BEDV Datentechnik near Lake Constance, in Tettnang, Germany. The ‘H’ and ‘B’ were the initial letters of their wives’ first names.

1988 – H+BEDV launched the protection program AntiVir, one of the first antivirus programs, to combat some of the first dangerous computer viruses that were already spreading at a phenomenal rate. AntiVir protected and repaired infected Microsoft DOS systems. The company also launched business security solutions at this time.

1990 – With only six employees, management incorporated the company, giving H+BEDV Datentechnik Germany’s “GmbH” status.

1991 – DOS system infections continued to rise, and thus AntiVir continually underwent improvements to counter new threats.

1994 – The product range extended to include AntiVir for Windows 3.x and AntiVir for Novell NetWare.

1995 – Launches included AntiVir for Windows 95/NT (Workstation and Server), AntiVir for Linux (Workstation and Server, free to consumers) and AntiVir for OS/2.

1996 – AntiVir FDBlock, one of the few memory-resident DOS antivirus programs, was introduced to stop boot-sector viruses from spreading.

1997 – The company continued to develop increasingly sophisticated software that included: integrity monitoring with different check sum algorithms, an automatic Update Wizard, the quarantine directory, the ability to define the level to which archives were unpacked, emailed alerts, negative classification of boot and master boot sectors, and heuristic macro virus detection.

1998 – Launches included AntiVir for Windows 98 and the ‘campus license’: schools and universities and other educational institutions could obtain AntiVir at a major discount via an "AntiVir for the computer room" campaign.

1999 – The Personal Edition antivirus for private, non-commercial use was made available to download for free, making it one of the pioneers of the ‘freemium’ business model. The company presented a global first in AV Guard, the first resistant virus guard under Linux, and Secure AntiVirus Application Programming Interface (SAVAPI) virus protection as a component. With SAVAPI, third-party manufacturers had the option to include virus protection functionality in their products, and Watchdog and MIMEsweeper were among the first to use it.

2000 – AntiVir for Windows ME was launched, and MailGate for Linux joined the product family to offer email protection.

2001 – the company made virus protection available for Windows XP at the same time the OS was launched, setting a milestone in speed and customer orientation. AntiVir for OpenBSD/FreeBSD was introduced.

2002 – the AntiVir Rescue System offered a rescue tool that booted and scanned for virus infections without using an external OS. In cooperation with a partner, the company developed virus protection for DSL networks software (AntiVir for AVM KEN!). The newly developed data access control module Dazuko scanned files in real time upon opening, closing, and execution. AntiVir received accreditations from many sources, including ICSA Labs, and the AntiVir online shop was launched.

2003 – launches included proxy server protection AntiVir WebGate for Linux, FreeBSD and OpenBSD, AntiVir Milter for Sendmail, AntiVir Lotus Notes/Domino, AntiVir ISA Server, and AntiVir Exchange for Servers 2000/2003. Partnerships formed with SuSE, Red Hat, Group Technologies, Clearswift (AntiVir MAILsweeper, AntiVir WEBsweeper), Pyramid Computers, and Central Command.

2004 – the company established a main branch office in Bucharest, Romania. Protection from Internet dialers was integrated in AntiVir and a 'convenience package' was introduced: customers got a bootable CD-ROM (with updates made available by mail), a printed installation manual, free support, and a command-line scanner. AntiVir for FreeBSD was equipped with an on-access scanner. Other launches included the Security Management Console, the SPAM filter AntiVir eXpurgate, AntiVir for Sun Sparc Solaris, AntiVir SmallBusiness (the first full-protection bundle for businesses), and AntiVir for Windows 2000. Annual sales rose to over 8 million euros, with just over 120 employees.

2005 – AntiVir version 7 was launched and the company reached its 10 millionth user. AntiVir Mobile Security for PDAs and smartphones was introduced. AntiVir Virus Scan Adapter (for SAP Solutions) became the first virus protection solution to be SAP certified. The company began to offer security consulting to commercial businesses, received numerous VB100 certifications, attained Microsoft-Gold partnership level, was accredited by Germany’s Association for Technical Inspection (TÜV), and began close cooperation with the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI).

2006 – Avira GmbH was formed when the original H+BEDV Datentechnik GmbH and its sister company AntiVir PersonalProducts GmbH merged. Avira GmbH opened a new branch office in Austria.

2008 – a major update was made to the scan engine, which increased scanning speed by 20%. The company reached 200 employees, became officially SAP certified, became a founding member of IT SMIG (IT Security Made in Germany), and launched a French version of Avira Free Antivirus.

2009 – Avira opened branch offices in Switzerland, Japan, and Malaysia and celebrated 10 years of its freemium software offerings by reaching its 100 millionth user – all with around 300 employees.

2010 – in addition to opening new Northen-Asia Headquarter in Hong Kong(As Avira North Asia) and its branch offices in Beijing,Avira also obtained an office in the Netherlands when it acquired the company CleanPort, to help bring managed security services “in the cloud” to the Avira portfolio. A new Sub-Office and Virus Lab was also opened in Kuala Lumpur.

2011 – Avira launched both its SafeSearch toolbar and a free version for Mac OS X. Reaching 500 employees, the company built a new HQ building in Tettnang, Germany, and opened a branch office in the USA’s Silicon Valley. The company also partnered with Qihoo in China.

2012 – Avira acquired us-base "Social Shield" network protection, to help parents protect their children from questionable social-network content. The company launched Android Anti-theft, Avira Answers (user forum), and Avira Cloud protection technology, and it began partnerships with Baidu and Tencent in China.

2013 – Co-founder Tjark Auerbach stepped down as CEO, but remained the majority shareholder of Avira. Travis Witteveen replaced Mr. Auerbach as CEO at the beginning of H2 2013. Avira expanded its Android security offering and launched both iOS security and its Online Essentials solution.

Technology

Virus Definition

Avira periodically "cleans out" the virus definition files, by replacing specific signatures with generic ones, resulting in a general increase in performance and scanning speed. A database clean-out with the size of 15 MB was made on 27 October 2008, causing problems to the users of the Free edition because of its large size and slow servers of the Free edition. To solve the problem, Avira improved the updating process by reducing the size of the individual up-datable files, resulting in the delivery of 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.^[5]

xVDF release

In March 2014 Avira intend to release a new VDF format xVDF (e(x)tended Virus Definition File),the successor of the nVDF.It force on the loading time and size of VDF The xVDF mechanism the update volume of VDF files to a minimum affect. This allows the VDF files keep as small as possible.it also improve the VDF loading time which minimize the CPU resource consumption when loading the smaller VDF files. xVDF also extended the files to more large numbers (256 for Windows;32 for Android),However the xVDF update mechanism will create a optimize single cache VDF files(local*.vdf) automatically on each update.The scanner engine will only load this single cache files instead of loading and merging all the downloaded VDF files on scan startup. ^[6]

Firewall

Avira has removed their own FireWall Technology in Version 2014 and replace it with the management of Windows Firewall (started with Windows 7 and after), because in Windows 8 the Microsoft Certification Program forces developers to use interfaces introduced in Windows Vista.

Protection Cloud

Avira Protection Cloud (APC) was first introduced in version 2013. The aim of APC is improving detection with less impact on system performance due to the use of cloud computing. APC was initially released as a sneak technical preview to selected testers.

After the initial preview, Avira implemented this technology in all paid 2013 products. When APC was first implement in Version 2013, its only used when the users perform a manual quick system scans. Lately,this technology has been extended to the real-time protection, which subsequently improve the Avira's score in the AV-Comparatives September and later Report. ^[7]

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, itelligence AG, Microsoft, novell, OPSWAT, Synergy Systems and others.

On September 4, 2014, Avira announced a partnership with Dropbox, to combine Avira's security with Dropbox's "sync and share" capabilities.^[8]

Products

Windows

Avira Internet Security

Avira Internet Security 2013 in Windows 7
Initial release	1988
Stable release	14.0.8.512 (February 12, 2015 (2015-02-12)) [±][9]
Operating system	Windows 8.1, 8, 7, and XP
Available in	Multilingual
Type	Antivirus
License	Proprietary

Avira offers the following security products and tools for Microsoft Windows:^[10][11]

1. Avira Free Antivirus: the free edition antivirus/anti-spyware, for non-commercial use.^[12]
2. Avira Antivirus Pro: the premium edition antivirus/anti-spyware.^[13]
3. Avira System Speedup: a suite of PC tune-up tools.^[14]
4. Avira Internet Security Suite: consists of Antivirus Pro + System Speedup.^[15]
5. Avira Ultimate Protection Suite: consists of Internet Security Suite + additional PC maintenance tools (e.g. SuperEasy Driver Updater).^[16]
6. Avira Rescue System: a set of free tools that include a utility used to write a bootable CD which can be downloaded as an EXE or ISO file. It has its own Linux-based operating system so it does not depend on the one on the host PC. It can be used to clean an unbootable PC, and is able to find malware that uses the host's operating system to hide (e.g., some rootkits). The tool contains the antivirus program and the virus database current as of the time of download. It boots the machine into the antivirus program, then scans for and removes malware, also restoring normal boot and operation. It is updated frequently so that the most recent security updates are always available.^[17]

Android and iOS

Avira offers the following security applications for mobile devices running Android and iOS:

1. Avira Antivirus Security for Android: free application for Android, runs on versions 2.2 and above.^[18]
2. Avira Antivirus Security Pro for Android: premium edition for Android, runs on versions 2.2 and above. Available as an upgrade from within the free application.
   it provide additional Safe browsing,Hourly update and free tech support.
3. Avira Mobile Security for iOS: free edition for iOS devices, such as iPhone and iPad.^[19]

Other platforms

Avira offers Avira Free Mac Security for Mac OS X.^[20]

Avira used to offer "Avira Free Unix/Linux" for Unix or Linux Platform, but has discontinued the product as of 30 June 2013. New licenses are no longer available, but existing customers will receive updates until 30 June 2016.^[21]

Awards and Reviews

In January 2008, Anti-Malware Test Lab gave Avira “gold” status for proactive virus detection and detection/removal of rootkits.^[22]

AV-Comparatives awarded Avira its "AV Product of the Year" award in its "Summary Report 2008."^[23]

In April 2009, PC Pro awarded Avira Premium Security Suite 9 six out of six stars and a place on its A-list for Internet security software.^[24]

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, which ranked it first on its website.^[25] Avira was among the first companies to receive OESIS OK Gold Certification,^[26] indicating that both the antispyware and antivirus components of several of its security products have achieved the maximum compatibility score with widespread network technologies (like SSL/TLS VPN and Network Access Control) from Juniper Networks, Cisco Systems, SonicWALL and others.

In February 2010 testing by firm AV-TEST, Avira tied for first place (with another German company) in the “malware on demand” detection test and earned a 99% score in the “adware/spyware on demand” test.^[27]

AV-Comparatives gave Avira its Silver award (for 99.5% detection rate) in its "Summary Report 2010."^[28]

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.^[29]

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.^[30]

Avira has also received numerous VB100 awards.^[31]

See also

• Internet Security
• Comparison of antivirus software
• Comparison of firewalls

References

External links

• Official website
• Avira Answers (support forum)
• Auerbach Stiftung (Foundation)

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