Panda Security has introduced Cloud Anti-virus Pro Edition, offering what it describes as "hands free" protection.
On top of standard protection features such as malware blocking, the offering does not require the user to re-install the anti-virus every time a new version is released.
Panda's latest offering also automatically cleans USB and hard drives to ensure neither can spread an infection when users are offline.
"The new Pro Edition offers more robust automated security capabilities and services at a very affordable price," claimed Pedro Bustamante, senior research advisor at Panda Security, in a statement.
One of the main selling points of Panda Cloud Anti-virus is the use of the security firm's Collective Intelligence, which automatically collects and processes malware in the cloud rather than on a user's PC.
This means the protection only uses up 15MB of RAM, rather than the 60MB used on traditional signature-based products, according to Panda.
Petter Lautin, the company's UK and Ireland managing director, said that the expansion of the firm's reservoir of information on malware is achieved in a variety of ways, from Panda going out and hunting for new threats to users supplying information.
Speaking to IT PRO, Lautin said that 99.7 per cent of all the samples Panda Labs receives are dealt with automatically, giving its security professionals time to deal with "the tough stuff".
"Even the vendors, between us we co-operate, we share samples, we work together on this," Lautin said.
He also revealed that Panda Security is working on developing security products for mobile devices, following Symantec's entrance into the mobile market.
"We haven't gone out and said that we will protect mobile devices yet because it is something we are working on. In principal, because the solution is a hosted solution, again there is no real reason why we wouldn't cover mobile security as well," Lautin added.
Read on to see how one PandaLabs employee found himself in a difficult situation after helping to uncover and put an end to the Mariposa botnet.
