Lavasoft And Avira To Deliver Ad-Aware Web Companion

When two of the world’s most respected providers of antivirus options, and online security agree to work with each other, you can be sure of one thing:  It just got easier for end users to keep themselves safer on the internet, and harder for cybercriminals to do damage. 

And that’s just what Lavasoft and Avira have done.

The new  agreement will allow Lavasoft to further enhance its already industry respected Ad-Aware Web Companion.

Long term partnership for Web Companion Software

The multi-year agreement between the two companies has resulted in Lavasoft gaining the license rights to Avira’s cloud-based ‘malicious URL,’ (MURL) and also its ‘program classification service.’ (AUC). Those people who really understand how anti-malware solutions work, will instantly know that this is a pretty big deal. But for the sake of those who don’t, this is a pretty big deal.

Both MURL and AUC are compatible with users existing antivirus programs and will add an extra layer of security and extra peace of mind for anyone using the Ad-Aware Web Companion.

The enhanced Web Companion will also work well with the top web browsers currently on the market. The result of this is that Ad Aware Web Companion will  be able to provide complete protection against malicious web content and also dangerous phishing scams with next to no input once people download and install it.

Avira CEO, Travis Witteveen, is proud of the new arrangement between the two leading edge security companies, going as far as to say that: “When the Avira URL Cloud meets Lavasoft’s Ad-Aware, it’s a win-win situation.” He could have a very good point.

His comments were mirrored by Lavasoft CEO, Daniel Assouline, who said that the ability for the two companies to work together meant that Ad-Aware Web Companion will receive frequent updates that will enable Web Companion to be the “most comprehensive and effective Web protection on the market, which plays a significant role in making the Internet safer for users worldwide.”

Surely Avira and Lavasoft are competitors?

Maybe, but both companies seem very happy with the multi-year agreement to work together. Daniel Assouline said this of the deal: “By partnering with Avira, we are uniquely positioned to build upon our shared technology through data mining and machine learning, further enhancing our protection against zero-day and other advanced threats.”

This in itself makes a lot of sense. From what I can gather, Avira will build its own MURL lists using ‘automated sandboxes,’ sifting through collected samples for websites with malicious code that are gathered daily by its 100 million plus users of Avira Antivirus. But by then also using its in house advanced heuristics, Avira will be able to supplement Web Companion in real time to assess and report new threats.

Lavasoft are doing their bit as well. In order to increase the effectiveness of Web Companion, Lavasoft will shortly be releasing a new beta version of Web Companion, and the public launch will follow soon after.

As part of the deal between the Avira and Lavasoft, Lavasoft will also continue to “add third-party antivirus services to ensure users receive the world’s absolute best web protection.”

I look forward to that day. For me however, the most significant feature of this announcement is that Ad-Aware Web Companion will be free of charge to its end users, i.e. you, and me.

So do your personal online security a favour, and install it when it’s released later this year.

Who are Lavasoft and Avira? 

A brief synopsis:

Lavasoft:

Founded in 1999, Lavasoft offer “award-winning free security and privacy software to protect users’ digital experiences and lives.” To date, their flagship Ad-Aware has been downloaded 450, 000, 000 times and has blocked and removed billions of viruses, threats, spyware and malware from machines all across the globe.

Avira:

Ground breaking technology security company, and makers of multi award winning antivirus software, including Avira Antivirus. More than 100,000,000 users, including businesses, depend on their products and expertise to keep them safe from online threats. Avira is currently ranked number 1 in the world for technology innovation, by ABI  Research, and is also the number 1 fastest growing antivirus vendor and is the second largest vendor worldwide. Avira has also garnered an almost unbroken string of Virus Bulletin awards over the past 10 years. So yeah, they know what they’re doing.