Avira

History

Avira Company History timeline:

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 – New product 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 100 million users – all with around 300 employees.

2010 – In addition to opening a new Northern-Asia headquarters 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 the US-based "Social Shield" protection for children from undesirable 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.

2014 – Avira developed its Browser Safety and SafeSearch browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox. The company launched a premium version of its Android app and Identity Safeguard, which checks emails against a database of public security breaches. Avira introduced also the Avira App Store and opened a new office in Munich, Germany.

Technology

Virus definition

Avira periodically "cleans out" its virus definition files, replacing specific signatures with generic ones for a general increase in performance and scanning speed. A 15MB database clean-out was made on 27 October 2008, causing problems to the users of the Free edition because of its large size and Avira's slow Free edition servers. Avira responded by reducing the size of the individual update files, delivering 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.

Its file-by-file scanning feature has jokingly been titled "Luke Filewalker" by the developers, as a reference to the Star Wars media franchise character "Luke Skywalker".

Advance heuristic

Avira products contain heuristics that proactively uncover unknown malware, before a special virus signature to combat the damaging element has been created and before a virus guard update has been sent.

Heuristic virus detection involves extensive analysis and investigation of the affected codes for functions typical of malware. If the code being scanned exhibits these characteristic features it is reported as being suspicious, although not necessarily malware; the user decides whether to act on or ignore the warning.

ProActiv

The ProActiv component uses rule sets developed by the Avira Malware Research Center to identify suspicious behavior. The rule sets are supplied by Avira databases. ProActiv sends information on suspicious programs to the Avira databases for logging.

Firewall

Avira removed its own firewall technology in 2014, with protection supplied instead by Windows Firewall (Windows 7 and after), because Windows 8, and later 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. It uses information available via the Internet (cloud computing) to improve detection and affect system performance less. This technology was implemented in all paid 2013 products. APC was initially only used during a manual quick system scan; later it was extended to real-time protection.

System requirements

Windows: operating system Windows 7, 8/8.1, 10, 11; processor speed 1.6 GHz; requires 256 MB of RAM; hard disk memory 2 GB. Mac: operating system MacOS 10.15 (Catalina) or higher; 500 MB free hard disk space

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

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

Tjark Auerbach, the founder of Avira sold almost 100% of his stake in the company to the Investcorp Group of Manama (Bahrain) in April 2020. The stakes were reportedly sold at a price of 180 million dollars. The Investcorp Group has invested in several other firms from the cybersecurity sector in the past. The directors of Investcorp Group belong to several royal families of Middle East countries like Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, etc. However, 20% of its total ordinary and preferred shares are owned by the Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Group since 2017.

On 7 December 2020, Gen Digital announced acquisition of Avira for approximately US$360 million from Investcorp Technology Partners. The acquisition was closed in January 2021.

In February 2021, joined Avira as part of Gen Digital Inc.

Products

Windows

Avira offers the following security products and tools for Microsoft Windows:

• Avira Free Antivirus: The free edition antivirus/anti-spyware, for non-commercial use, with promotional pop-ups.
• Avira Antivirus Pro: The premium edition antivirus/anti-spyware.
• Avira System Speedup Free: A free suite of PC tune-up tools.
• Avira System Speedup Pro: The premium edition of the suite of PC tune-up tools.
• Avira Internet Security Suite: Consists of Antivirus Pro + System Speedup + Firewall Manager.
• Avira Ultimate Protection Suite: Consists of Internet Security Suite + additional PC maintenance tools (e.g. SuperEasy Driver Updater).
• Avira Rescue System: A set of free tools that include a utility used to write a Linux-based bootable CD. It can be used to clean an unbootable PC, and is also able to find malware that hides when the host's operating system is active (e.g., some rootkits). The tool contains the antivirus program and the virus database current at the time of download. It boots the machine into the antivirus program, then scans for and removes malware, and restores normal boot and operation if necessary.

MacOS

• Avira Free Mac Security for Mac: Runs on MacOS 10.9 and above.

Android and iOS

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

• Avira Antivirus Security for Android: Free application for Android, runs on versions 2.2 and above.
• 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 provides additional safe browsing, hourly update and free tech support.
• Avira Mobile Security for iOS: Free edition for iOS devices, such as iPhone and iPad.

Other products

• Avira Phantom VPN: Avira's virtual private network software for Android, iOS, macOS and Windows.
• Avira Prime: In April 2017 Avira launched a single-user, multi-device subscription-based product designed to provide a complete set of all Avira products available for the duration of the license along with premium support. Avira Prime is compatible with Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android operating systems and related devices and is available to consumers in 5- and 25-device editions, dubbed "Avira Prime" and "Avira Prime Unlimited" respectively. Subscriptions are in 30-day and 1-year increments.

Discontinued platforms

Avira formerly offered free antivirus software for Unix and Linux. It was discontinued in 2013, although updates were supplied until June 2016.

Security vulnerabilities

In 2005, Avira was hit by ACE archive buffer overflow vulnerability. A remote attacker could have exploited this vulnerability by crafting an ACE archive and delivering it via a malicious web page or e-mail. A buffer overflow could occur when Avira scanned the malicious archive. That would have allowed the attacker to execute arbitrary code on the affected system.

In 2010, Avira Management Console was hit by the use-after-free remote code execution vulnerability. The vulnerability allowed remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on vulnerable installations of Avira Management Console. Authentication was not required to exploit the vulnerability.

In 2013, Avira engines were hit by a 0-day vulnerability that allowed attackers to get access to a customer's PC. The bug was found in the avipbb.sys driver file and allowed privilege escalation.

Awards and reviews

In January 2008, Anti-Malware Test Lab gave Avira "gold" status for proactive virus detection and detection/removal of rootkits.

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

In April 2009, PC Pro awarded Avira Premium Security Suite 9 the maximum six stars and a place on its A-list for Internet security software.

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 magazine, which ranked it first on its website. Avira was among the first companies to receive OESIS OK Gold Certification, indicating that both the antispyware and antivirus components of several of its security products achieved the maximum compatibility score with widespread network technologies such as SSL/TLS VPN and network access control from companies including Juniper Networks, Cisco Systems, and SonicWALL.

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.

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

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.

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.

AV-Comparatives awarded Avira its "AV Product of the Year" award in its "Summary Report 2016."

AV-Test awarded Avira its "TOP Product" award in its "May-Jun/2022 Testing"

References

References

1. "About Avira". Avira.com.
2. "Avira Contacts Page". Avira.com.
3. "Avira History". Avira.com.
4. (17 November 2009). "AVIRA News – Free version: Avira optimizes update system". Avira.com.
5. "Avira Antivirus Review".
6. (27 February 2017). "TDI filters and LSPs are not allowed - Windows 8.1 HCK".
7. (4 September 2014). "Avira Partners with Dropbox to Bring Secure Sync and Share to Millions".
8. "Le hacker militaire qui a acheté Avira - The military hacker who bought Avira".
9. (9 April 2020). "Investcorp acquires Germany's leading cybersecurity company, Avira".
10. (March 2022). "Investcorp acquires Italy's leading cybersecurity company, HWG".
11. (7 December 2020). "NortonLifeLock acquires Avira in $360M all-cash deal, 8 months after Avira was acquired for $180M".
12. "NortonLifeLock's Q3 Growth Momentum Fueled by Cyber Safety Adoption".
13. "Announcement: Avira + BullGuard".
14. "Avira Official Store". Avira.com.
15. "Avira Free Antivirus for Mac Product Page". Avira.com.
16. "Avira Antivirus Security on Google Play". Avira.com.
17. "Avira Mobile Security on iTunes". Avira.com.
18. "Avira Phantom VPN Review".
19. (4 April 2017). "Avira Prime: first look at Avira's new premium service - gHacks Tech News". gHacks Technology News.
20. technews. (4 April 2017). "Avira Prime: first take a look at Avira's new premium service - Tech News Port". Tech News Port.
21. "Discontinuation of Antivirus solutions for Linux systems on June 30th 2016". Avira.com.
22. "Announcement Regarding Non-Cisco Product Security Alerts".
23. "ZDI-15-445".
24. Moghimi, Ahmad. (22 October 2013). "Avira Internet Security - 'avipbb.sys' Filter Bypass / Privilege Escalation".
25. "Anti-Malware Test Lab". Anti-malware-test.com.
26. "Summary Report 2008". av-comparatives.org.
27. [http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/software/251831/avira-premium-security-suite-9 "Avira Premium Security Suite 9 review"] at ''[[PC Pro]]'' (27 July 2010)
28. [http://www.pcworld.com/article/170594/avira_antivir_personal.html "Avira AntiVir Personal"] by Erik Larkin, ''[[PC World (magazine). PC World]]'' (24 August 2009)
29. "Awards for Avira products". Avira.com.
30. [http://www.virusbtn.com/news/2008/09_02 "AV-Test release latest results"] (2 September 2008)
31. "Summary Report 2010". av-comparatives.org.
32. "Summary Report 2012". av-comparatives.org.
33. "Factsheet August 2014 Real-World Protection Test". av-comparatives.org.
34. "Summary Report 2016". av-comparatives.org.