What Does The avast! Company Use For It's Own Antispyware Protection?

[internetworld7]

Recently I was thinking, since avast! does not provide antispyware protection and it appears the company has no intentions to offer it, what do the folk at avast! use to protect their very own computers from spyware?

And while we're on this topic, who does avast! use as firewall protection for their own computers as well? This would seem to answer the question of compatibility with avast! antivirus.

I know what everyone else here uses and recommends but I'm curious as to what the company uses to protect it's own computers from hackers and spyware?

[Lisandro]

avast Home/Pro version give a very good antispyware protection.
It's not perfect, so we run on-demand scannings with:
1. A-squared.
2. AVGas (ex-ewido).
3. Windows Defender.
4. Lavasoft Ad-aware.
5. SpyBot.

Some users have SUPERantispyware, Spyware Terminator and a lot of non-free applications.
Some users use immunization with SpywareBlaster and Advanced WindowsCare.

[justin1278]

Alwil most likely does not need antispyware protection for their machines because they most likely do not program in Windows, I would guess that they use Linux or some form of Unix for programming and Windows machines to test their software, therefor they wouldn't need spyware protection. 

[rdmaloyjr]

Alwil most likely does not need antispyware protection for their machines because they most likely do not program in Windows, I would guess that they use Linux or some form of Unix for programming and Windows machines to test their software, therefor they wouldn't need spyware protection. 

But they still need a firewall on their test machines.  And anti-spyware protection when not testing.  It's important to start with a clean system before testing.

[internetworld7]

avast Home/Pro version give a very good antispyware protection.
It's not perfect, so we run on-demand scannings with:
1. A-squared.
2. AVGas (ex-ewido).
3. Windows Defender.
4. Lavasoft Ad-aware.
5. SpyBot.

Some users have SUPERantispyware, Spyware Terminator and a lot of non-free applications.
Some users use immunization with SpywareBlaster and Advanced WindowsCare.

Are you sure about that? Do you have first hand knowledge about what you're saying? I have never seen any documentation supporting what you're saying and I have never read any claims on the product description of avast! antivirus providing antispyware protection. I'm not saying that what you said is not true but I find it strange that I have never seen any information from the company regarding antispyware protection. Perhaps you or someone else could elaborate on this for me? Thanks.

[rdmaloyjr]

Most likely they use GMER for rootkit protection.   

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=27180.msg221659#msg221659

[Lisandro]

I have never seen any documentation supporting what you're saying and I have never read any claims on the product description of avast! antivirus providing antispyware protection.

You'll need to Google... comparisons between antispyware products and avast say that avast has a very good detection rate of spywares.

I'm not saying that what you said is not true but I find it strange that I have never seen any information from the company regarding antispyware protection. Perhaps you or someone else could elaborate on this for me? Thanks.

The virus signatures can detect spywares too:
http://smokey-services.eu/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7379&sid=9cc676da3667ab3385d2b54efe758332
http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=8365
http://www.castlecops.com/t176019-Malware_Test_Labs_AntiSpyware_Comparison_Report_1_3_2007.html

[internetworld7]

I have never seen any documentation supporting what you're saying and I have never read any claims on the product description of avast! antivirus providing antispyware protection.

You'll need to Google... comparisons between antispyware products and avast say that avast has a very good detection rate of spywares.

I'm not saying that what you said is not true but I find it strange that I have never seen any information from the company regarding antispyware protection. Perhaps you or someone else could elaborate on this for me? Thanks.

The virus signatures can detect spywares too:
http://smokey-services.eu/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7379&sid=9cc676da3667ab3385d2b54efe758332
http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=8365
http://www.castlecops.com/t176019-Malware_Test_Labs_AntiSpyware_Comparison_Report_1_3_2007.html

I just looked at your links above and they are extremely controversial and in fact have proven to be untrustworthy. The information provided by your links are discussed in detail at several security forums. The testing methods used are very unreliable. Testing should come from top rated independent established organizations or labs such as AV-Comparatives, CheckMark, ICSA Labs, AV-Test,  Virus Bulletin, etc. Sorry but this test holds no weight with me but in fact bring up more doubts.

The bottom line is this: The avast! company virtually makes no claims about protection from spyware for a reason. If the company has computers running the Windows operating system that is connected to the internet rest assured they are using an antispyware program to protect their computers in addition to their antivirus program.

[justin1278]

But they still need a firewall on their test machines.  And anti-spyware protection when not testing.  It's important to start with a clean system before testing.

Maybe there test machines are not connected to the internet because they are simply testing their software and internet connection would not be required since they already have malware samples on hand.

If the company has computers running the Windows operating system that is connected to the internet rest assured they are using an antispyware program to protect their computers in addition to their antivirus program.

Yes it is possible that they do have Windows machines connected to the internet, however we do not know that as a fact, and it is possible they do not have an antispyware application running as they may be behind a hardware firewall. They are a security company so I doubt they even worry about spyware, and I am sure they have their own methods of protecting themselves from spyware/malware on important Windows based machines that are connected to the internet, plus I highly doubt they would use a spyware solution from another security company competing in the same field as them.

[DavidR]

Well if you check av-comparatives.org you will see that many of the headings relate to what might be loosely be termed spyware, see image. You aren't allowed to selectively link to individual tests but you only need to look at the figures of detections for Backdoors, 96,32% and trojans of 93,09% to see that there has to be an element of spyware detection.

Based on that it might even be wise to run Virtual systems and no inbound protection to see what enters and add them to the signatures.

[Lisandro]

I just looked at your links above and they are extremely controversial and in fact have proven to be untrustworthy. The information provided by your links are disgusted in detail at several security forums. The testing methods used are very unreliable. Testing should come from top rated independent established organizations or labs such as AV-Comparatives, CheckMark, ICSA Labs, AV-Test,  Virus Bulletin, etc. Sorry but this test holds no weight with me but in fact bring up more doubts.

Read my first post.

avast Home/Pro version give a very good antispyware protection.

I'm not defending the tests. I use avast and the other antispywares does not detect nothing on demand because avast has already done its job. It works for me, it's my experience. I just Google trying to find some info about comparisons.

The bottom line is this: The avast! company virtually makes no claims about protection from spyware for a reason.

Sure. It's an antivirus and not an antispyware or antimalware. It brings *some* protection. Not the full antispyware protection (registry keys, startup entries, etc.). It's based on signatures and not spyware behavior.
It is not a full antispyware and I never said so.

If the company has computers running the Windows operating system that is connected to the internet rest assured they are using an antispyware program to protect their computers in addition to their antivirus program.

That is a good question to the avast team.

[mouniernetwork]

Based on that it might even be wise to run Virtual systems and no inbound protection to see what enters and add them to the signatures.

Yes, I would be a good idea for Avast to ahave a honeypot like installation so that they can get actually spreading malware.(I've tried to have a honeypot connected to the internet and you get a lot of data, I got a hit approximatly every 3 minutes)

Also that would increase its detection, I believe that Symantec has some set ups like this.

Al968

[internetworld7]

A lot of blah, blah, blah and more blah, blah, blah and yet still more blah, blah, blah. So I guess what all of this blah, blah, blah comes down to is, if I want a knowledgable answer to this super hard question (LOL) I'll just need to send an email to the Alwil Team right? Ok got it. I'm sure I won't get a reply of blah, blah, blah and more blah, blah, blah, and yet still more blah, blah, blah. LOL. 

[Lisandro]

Sorry if you feel disappointed about sharing experiences.
This is a forum, after all.

[alanrf]

And when you do email the Alwil team I'm sure you will get a polite response telling you precisely nothing.  Security conscious companies simply do not supply this information.