London, U.K. and Emeryville, California, U.S., September 16, 2021 - Avast (LSE:AVST), a global leader in digital security and privacy, today announced the release of Avast One. The new integrated service delivers personalized, comprehensive cross-platform protection to increase privacy, connect securely, speed up devices and stay safe from viruses. For the last 20 years, Avast has provided its flagship antivirus product for free, and with Avast One Essential, Avast has redefined free digital protection to address the needs of today’s online consumer for privacy in addition to core security. 

Free, award-winning, cross-platform protection
Avast One is available in three different versions: Essential, the free service, and premium services Avast One Individual, and Avast One Family. All Avast One versions are available for Windows, MacOS, Android and iOS. Avast One deploys Avast’s award-winning antivirus engines to provide maximum protection from malware such as ransomware, spyware, and phishing attacks. Independent testing institutions, including AV-Test, AV-Comparatives, VB100, and SE Labs, consistently recognize Avast Free Antivirus threat detection engines as test winners and leaders in both efficacy and performance impact. Recent examples are the anti-phishing test of AV-Comparatives, where Avast won the highest ranking vs. competing solutions.  

In a Performance and Protection test conducted by AV-Test for Avast One, the product achieved a maximum score of six out of six points for Protection and a maximum score of six out of six points for minimizing Performance impact.

Customers will enjoy an easy-to-use personalized dashboard with tailored recommendations to improve their privacy, security or device performance. With options for both individual and family needs, Avast One Family will keep up to 30 devices protected across the entire household. 

Avast One Essential: The core free service offers Avast’s award-winning security protection coupled with a Virtual Private Network for regular browsing use, data breach monitoring service and a software updater feature. It includes:

• Protection: Award-winning antivirus protection from cyber threats such as ransomware, spyware and phishing attacks. It also includes a firewall, blocking incoming connections and preventing leaks of sensitive data. The Ransomware Shield feature gives users the option to select files and folders to be protected from ransomware by an additional layer of security. 
  
  
• Privacy: Avast One Essential includes a free VPN allowance of 5GB per week, which leads major security providers in the market, so users can always connect quickly, securely and privately when required. Avast One Essential users benefit from free identity protection through the Data Breach Monitoring feature that enables them to find out if their account has been compromised, and from the ability to Clear Browsing Data to limit the tracking and sharing of their personal information.
  
  
• Performance: Avast One Essential users also have access to PC Speedup, which allows people to optimize the background activity of their apps to improve their device’s performance, and a Software Updater to keep commonly used third-party software up-to-date and eliminate potential security risks.

Avast One Individual or Family: For users seeking comprehensive protection, the premium version includes full-featured privacy, security and performance components. Includes all of the above and: 

• Security: The advanced Firewall hides identifiers of the user’s PC from other devices on the network and will notify the user the moment other devices scan the PC for open ports. Avast One users will be protected from Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) spoofing attacks where cybercriminals mask their computer as a network member to steal information, and from DNS hijacking, via the Web Hijack Guard feature. Meanwhile, the Webcam Shield prevents applications and malware from accessing the PC’s webcam without user consent. In a world where many store their passwords in their browser, Avast One helps users secure them against malware and unwanted applications.
  
  
• Privacy: People can automatically monitor five (Individual) or ten (Family) emails via the Data Breach Monitoring feature to observe whether they have been compromised in a data leak. With Avast One, users also have access to unlimited VPN services and can choose from 55 server locations in 34 countries to protect their sensitive data while browsing or completing sensitive transactions.
  
  
• Performance: With Avast One’s Driver Updater, people can securely update their drivers, improving and protecting their device, with every single update checked by the Avast Threat Labs for viruses, to prevent supply-chain-attacks. Moreover, Avast One users can keep their PC performance strong with a Disk Cleaner that allows them to find and clean redundant junk files to keep their device clean and fresh.

“In the last 18 months, we’ve seen how reliant we have become on the internet to socialize, to work, to relax, yet the digital world as it currently operates is not one that works for everyone,” said Vita Santrucek, Chief Product Officer at Avast. “What started as a wide-open, democratic, and free vision for a digital world has become compromised by people’s growing unease around security and privacy threats to their digital identity. While people are reluctant to limit their online activities, sharing data online, making transactions, and worrying about phishing emails, are activities that make them feel vulnerable, but they struggle to know what to do about it. We believe that everybody has a right to foundational security and privacy, and with our new Avast One service, we are responding to a clear desire for the ability to control what they choose to share and who has access to that personal information.”