PRAGUE, Czech Republic, October 16, 2012 – AVAST Software, best known for the world’s most widely used antivirus for PC, Mac, and Android, shares its Virus Lab data with Facebook in the combined attempt to prevent malware being shared unknowingly by Facebook users.

The AVAST Software Virus Lab, which maintains a cloud database of millions of malware-infected files and websites, now provides Facebook with access to its real-time cloud, which includes even newly discovered ‘zero-day’ threats. As the world’s most popular antivirus brand, AVAST uses its own CommunityIQ network of anonymous sensors – people who use avast! – to track more than 200,000 newly infected website domains each month, which are most often legitimate websites.

“We’ve seen that the most prominent way of spreading malware now is through links to infected websites, rather than the traditional method of emailing infected files,” said AVAST Software CEO Vince Steckler. “Our Virus Lab has tracked about 2 million infected websites just in the last 12 months and the best way to stop these infections is to prevent links to them being shared.”

AVAST’s collaboration with Facebook is a seamless experience for Facebook users. Whenever someone clicks a link within Facebook, Facebook checks the URL in the AVAST cloud, in real time. If the URL is infected, the user sees a message warning of the potential threat.

"Nothing is more important to us than the safety of our users and their data. Beginning today, Facebook will be able to leverage Avast's feed of malicious URLs to augment our existing site integrity systems and those in our community will be able to download Avast's software to better protect themselves and their devices. We look forward to working with Avast to provide an even more secure experience for those who use our service," said Joe Sullivan, CSO of Facebook.

avast! Free Antivirus is the world’s most popular antivirus protection, securing over [] million PCs, Macs and Android devices with the same light, award-winning antivirus and anti-spyware engine as our premium products. Anchored by the global CommunityIQ network of sensors and supported by multiple protective shields, avast! streams virus database updates in real-time for maximum protection. With a strong lead in the global antivirus market, avast! is also the top antivirus download with the highest user ratings on Download.com. avast! Free Antivirus continually outperforms all free and many paid-for antivirus products and is endorsed by leading labs including VB100, The AV-TEST Institute, AV- Comparatives, ICSA Labs, and West Coast Labs.