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I haven't installed ClamAV for Windows or Immunet's free offering yet,
but I do plan to eval it soon. It looks like Immunet is
providing/funding the cloud and that ClamAV is making use of it with
Immunet's cooperation/permission. <br>
<br>
"Immunet placed ClamAV into their Cloud infrastructure alongside their
Ethos detection engine, and several other detection technologies. By
combining all these technologies, and utilizing the power of
community-based detection, we feel we have the most effective
Anti-Virus technology on the market. And it only gets better with every
user that installs and utilizes our technology." - <a
href="http://www.clamav.net/lang/en/about/win32">http://www.clamav.net/lang/en/about/win32</a><br>
<br>
I understand the why: Immunet benefits from ClamAV's scanning engine
being a part of their cloud...It improves their own AV capabilities. I
know that <a href="http://www.immunet.com/pressreleases?id=9">$2M in
venture capital invested in Immunet is funding the cloud</a>. Immunet
also has provided their own free cloud-based AV product (Immunet
Protect). What I haven't figured out yet is how Immunet plans to make
money. I'd have to assume that at some point, they are going to either
take away the free product and replace it with a subscription-based
version, or offer a paid-for "enhanced version" (perhaps
enterprise-level reporting and management features?). Either way,
though, I'd guess that as long as the company survives, then the
partnering with ClamAV will persist and be a good thing.<br>
<br>
I'd heard rumors of a cloud-based AV in the last year or so. I didn't
really understand how it works, but I'm starting to, I think. I bet it
was Immunet I had heard about.<br>
<br>
Very promising.<br>
<br>
Chad<br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">-----------------------
Chad Neeper
Senior Systems Engineer
Level 9 Networks
740-548-8070 (voice)
866-214-6607 (fax)
-- Full LAN/WAN consulting services --
-- Specialized in libraries and schools --</pre>
<br>
<br>
Nathan Eady wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:8739zr7z72.fsf@donalbain.galionlibrary.net"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Interesting.
Up to now Clam has made a name for itself mostly in server-side email
scanning. It has a generally positive reputation for that, but AFAIK
it hasn't seen a lot of uptake elsewise.
This appears to be aimed at a somewhat broader usage profile.
However, the wording regarding how "the cloud" is used does bother me
somewhat, both for its vagueness and also because some of the claims
light up "too good to be true" warning indicators in my brain.
If the service is free, what's paying for cloud servers? Or is it all
peer-to-peer, in which case, how does this reduce the load on your
computer? The "Collective Immunity" thing doesn't make a whole lot of
technical sense to me either: how does locating and neutralizing one
instance of a given piece of malware automatically protect other
computers from it? Wouldn't they still all continue to need to be
scanned for the thing, just the same as before?
Before drawing any conclusions, I'd want to see a somewhat more
information-dense description of how using "the cloud" for AV scanning
improves the process.
</pre>
</blockquote>
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