Internet is no longer like it was back in early 90’s, when you could trust the files downloaded from various websites. These days you have to be very careful when downloading files from the internet as they could contain malware. Even some of the legitimate software downloaded from regular download sites may contain toolbars and unwanted software demos. This is why if you feel that a program or installer file is suspicious, then you should better scan it for malware before running or installing it. The free IObit Cloud web app can help you scan the suspicious files and tell you about the risks right away.
The IObit Cloud is an advanced automated threat analysis system. According to the IObit website, IObit Cloud uses the latest cloud technology and heuristic analysis to detect spyware, adware, trojans, keyloggers, bots, worms, hijackers and other security-related risks in a fully automated mode.
IObit Cloud looks like the popular VirusTotal website which scans suspicious files with 40+ antivirus engines, only difference being that IObit Cloud uses only IObit scanning engine. But since not much is disclosed about how the scanning works, IObit Cloud may be closer to online threat analysis systems like Anubis.
In order to scan a suspicious file with the IObit Cloud, you can visit the IObit Cloud webpage and click on the Browse File button. Then select the suspicious file from your hard disk. If you have more than one suspicious files that you want to scan, then you can pack them together into a ZIP file and upload the ZIP file.
As soon as the suspicious file is selected, it follows five stages – loading the file, uploading it to the IObit Cloud servers, queuing the file for scanning, analyzing the file and finally generating the report. If the file is detected as malicious or risky, the report shows the details about the file hashes (MD5 and SHA1), but nothing about the detected malware is shown.
If it does find the suspicious files to be risky or malicious, then you have to scan your system further for possible malware infection. You can use the free ESET Online Scanner to detect and remove the malware from system, in addition to using any standard antivirus product.
Conclusion: The IObit Cloud is an online threat analysis system similar to VirusTotal or Anubis, but it does not display detailed malware analysis information. It just shows you if your uploaded file is a security risk or not.
You can visit the IObit Cloud website at http://cloud.iobit.com/.