Expanded Online Testing of Files – Participation in the Avira AntiVir ProActiv Community

The threat of new viruses and malware is continually on the rise. In many cases, traditional detection methods are no longer sufficient in effectively protecting you against outside attacks. New detection technologies must be added in order to effectively ward off attacks, especially by new viruses and malware.

With Avira AntiVir ProActiv, Avira makes just such a new technology available to you. Based on your system’s behavior, Avira AntiVir ProActiv can detect whether it is currently being attacked by a virus or malware and can initiate effective countermeasures.

On the basis of integrated rules, your Avira product autonomously decides whether one or more events on your system are attributable to a virus or malware attack. These rules are created in the Avira virus laboratory from the analysis of viruses and malware and made available to all Avira customers.

You can participate in the improvement of these rules and with it in the worldwide battle that Avira is waging against viruses and malware by using the expanded online test and joining the Avira AntiVir ProActiv community.

What takes place during the expanded online test and what data is transferred in the process?

In cases in which no unequivocal conclusions can be drawn based on the system's behavior and with the aid of the rules as to whether one is dealing with an attack from a virus or from malware, the Avira servers are queried as to whether the file that caused this behavior requires analysis. The following data is transmitted with this inquiry:

• Information about the relevant rules
• The MD5 sum of the file
• The size of the file
• Version number of the rules

If the answer is YES, the file is automatically sent to Avira. In doing so, the following data is transmitted:

• The MD5 sum of the file
• The file name
• The contents of the file

The transmission occurs via a secure HTTPS connection. The transmitted information itself is encrypted.

Except for the above data, no information or personal data whatsoever that allows inferences to be made about the sender is transmitted. All submitted data is used solely for the purposes of analysis.

All events for which data is sent to the Avira servers are logged in the log file of your Avira product.