Verdict-as-a-Service moves malware scanning from the endpoint to the cloud

Stefan: G DATA Verdict-as-a-Service is basically what you used to know as a classic antivirus engine from your computer or other device. We moved the whole thing to the cloud. As a result, there is no longer a security solution running on the device- This also eliminates the requirement to update it yourself. This means that no system resources are used when the scanner is checking files. Instead, customers receive a so-called SDK, a software development kit in a programming language, that they can integrate into their application. The SDK controls the scan via the cloud so that the data is checked there. Afterwards, the end result of this evalutation, – which is the verdict – is delivered back and shows whether the file is harmful or not or whether it is a so-called PUP – a Probably Unwanted Program. The customers decide what happens to it, based on the context of their product – for example, whether a harmful file is blocked or deleted. The basic idea is that we move the scanning from the endpoint to the cloud. Customers don’t have to worry about installations on the devices or signature updates.

We recognize many different types of malware by their hash value, so before each file upload, we check whether the file is already known. In this way, VaaS prevents redundant uploads of the same file as well as unnecessary network traffic from being generated. The advantage of this is that the cloud is always up to date and new threats are thus quickly detected.