Advice Request Antivirus web protection in windows and Android

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SohanRay

Level 5
Thread author
Mar 19, 2022
246
Does the web protection feature in Antivirus solutions like Bitdefender, scan web pages for malicious codes that a user visits in real time or just checks against a blacklist in the cloud? Or does it do both?
 

ScandinavianFish

Level 7
Verified
Dec 12, 2021
317
Antiviruses on the phone relies mostly on signatures/blacklists to detect malware and malicious pages as you mentioned, though some also uses an cloud to detect zero day malware, including Bitdefender, while others employs machine learning/AI to detect malicious behavior.

Another thing is that antiviruses on Android or IOS only checks links when you click/tap them outside the browser, and not when youre already in the browser and navigating to an new site.
 

SohanRay

Level 5
Thread author
Mar 19, 2022
246
Antiviruses on the phone relies mostly on signatures/blacklists to detect malware and malicious pages as you mentioned, though some also uses an cloud to detect zero day malware, including Bitdefender, while others employs machine learning/AI to detect malicious behavior.

Another thing is that antiviruses on Android or IOS only checks links when you click/tap them outside the browser, and not when youre already in the browser and navigating to an new site.
Ok, but I am a bit confused here🥴.
I was asking if the Antiviruses use a real time scanning engine to scan the web page codes on supported browsers to detect if the web page is malicious.
It does filter based on a blacklist in database I know, but I was wondering if it also scans in real time.
And I wasn't asking about what method it implements for scanning applications and files.
 

ScandinavianFish

Level 7
Verified
Dec 12, 2021
317
Ok, but I am a bit confused here🥴.
I was asking if the Antiviruses use a real time scanning engine to scan the web page codes on supported browsers to detect if the web page is malicious.
It does filter based on a blacklist in database I know, but I was wondering if it also scans in real time.
And I wasn't asking about what method it implements for scanning applications and files.
Like I mentioned, they almost exclusively use signatures adn blacklists to detect malicious sites, only some employ machine learning or AI to detect them-
 

SohanRay

Level 5
Thread author
Mar 19, 2022
246
Like I mentioned, they almost exclusively use signatures adn blacklists to detect malicious sites, only some employ machine learning or AI to detect them-
Ok so do you know any antivirus specifically that also deploys signatures for detecting malicious sites?
 

SohanRay

Level 5
Thread author
Mar 19, 2022
246
That I dont know, mobile AV's have way too little documentation to say for certain.
Ohk.. Actually the thing is I talked to the Bitdefender live chat support several times and guess what... some say that Bitdefender uses a hybrid model to check against a blacklist and also scan web pages in real time and others say that it only checks against a blacklist.
So in the end I have no idea which one is true😪
 
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silversurfer

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Aug 17, 2014
10,055
Does the web protection feature in Antivirus solutions like Bitdefender, scan web pages for malicious codes that a user visits in real time or just checks against a blacklist in the cloud? Or does it do both?

You meant in general included Windows or AV for mobile OS only?

On Windows: Avast/AVG, Bitdefender, Kaspersky, and other major AV, probably scanning in real-time on websites, detection or analysis only happens in the cloud as already mentioned.

As you said about Bitdefender, you would have to ask AV vendors directly, but that doesn't mean it's always true, rather might be like marketing... Finally, just a matter of trust ;)
 

SohanRay

Level 5
Thread author
Mar 19, 2022
246
You meant in general included Windows or AV for mobile OS only?

On Windows: Avast/AVG, Bitdefender, Kaspersky, and other major AV, probably scanning in real-time on websites, detection or analysis only happens in the cloud as already mentioned.

As you said about Bitdefender, you would have to ask AV vendors directly, but that doesn't mean it's always true, rather might be like marketing... Finally, just a matter of trust ;)
Which AV would you recommend for Android? Best in term of web protection and then malware apps detection.
 
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silversurfer

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Aug 17, 2014
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Which AV would you recommend for Android? Best in term of web protection and then malware apps detection.
I'm an iPhone user and can't say for sure what AV works best on Android, that was the reason I wrote above about Windows only.

Doesn't help a lot, but recommendable are top ranked products from official testing labs like AV-Test below, furthermore you can waiting here for Android users opinions...
 

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