Cylance Antivirus: AI Adaptive Protection

With the world moving into digitalization, the amount of viruses emerging can be overwhelming sometimes, so we ask the question, how can antivirus companies effectively counter these new dangers?

Cylance is a next-generation antivirus company with AI-powered protection. Cylance provides protection against zero-day attacks, instead of relying on a malware list database, which is the outdated method many other antiviruses still implement to this day.

Cylance lacks some of the extra features other antiviruses have. However, it brings some special features to the table that are worth considering.

How does Cylance compare in features relative to other antivirus software? This article will explain in detail the plans, features, prices, pros and cons of Cylance AV to help you decide. 
 

Security and Protection

When buying an antivirus, the major point is how secure the product is, so we ask the question: Can Cylance protect our devices from viruses, malware, and other causes of harm? Cylance uses an unusual approach.

To answer that, we check the following regarding security and protection:
 

1. Third-party lab test results

Rather than taking the AV creators' words for their own devices, checking with third-party labs and compiling an analysis report of different resources provides the best assessment.
 

• AV-Test scores

  • Cylance scored relatively low on protection according to AV-Test. It gets a 2.5/6 score on its ability to detect malicious ware.
     
  • Cylance scores 6/6 in the impact on your device's performance, meaning the effect is negligible and won't take up your device's resources.
     
  • Cylance has a low false-positive rate with a 4/6 usability score. This means it's unlikely to mistake regular files for harmful ones.
    
     

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• AV-Comparatives

Cylance lacks an AV-Comparatives report; hence it won't be further discussed.
 

• SE Labs

Regarding SE Labs, Cylance was not reviewed in their latest quarter annual reports. In fact, it's not reviewed regularly, to begin with. However, in 2018 they had a special report constructed to test out the effectiveness of Cylance.

According to their report named "Predictably Evil", Cylance managed to block threats that were on average 2 years into the future with its AI-machine learning basis proving its ability to defend against zero-day threats without updates, even though it is updated regularly, meaning its protection is even superior to the test's result.
 

2. Firewall and IDS protection

Cylance antivirus lacks firewall protection. A firewall's function is to monitor incoming and outgoing network traffic providing users with an intruder detection system (IDS) to protect users from possible threats that might harm their devices.

Instead, Cylance utilizes Windows Firewall Defender and leaves the job while focusing on eliminating any harmful files.

3. USB rescue toolkit

A USB rescue toolkit feature is used as a failsafe if your antivirus fails to detect and remove a virus/malware. The process includes downloading a rescue kit as a failsafe on your USB to use later on. Cylance, unfortunately, lacks a USB rescue toolkit.
 

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Plans and Features

Cylance has one actual plan. The difference between the available plans is related to the number of devices protected rather than what features can be acquired.
 

Cylance

Cylance is a next-generation antivirus powered by AI. Rather than depending on a signature database, it utilizes an AI system, which functions as a virtual brain to come up with different patterns of viruses and malware ahead of time.

Relative to Cylance, traditional antivirus can’t match its fast pace in protecting your device against all the different types of evolving viruses and malware. The typical antivirus signature-based model captures new viruses in the wild and creates a master list of malware for users to download.

Despite the common claim of zero-day attacks protection usual antiviruses promises, there is bound to be at least one victim. The usual model is to capture the threats in the wild or after it infects a single device, after which the signature is then added to the signature database. 

Modern threats can alter themselves too quickly for signature updates to catch, and modern problems require modern solutions, and this is where Cylance shines best.
 

A different approach to antivirus protection

Cylance uses cutting-edge algorithms and artificial intelligence to proactively protect you, preventing threats like malware, hackers, viruses, ransomware, and malicious websites. Moreover, it does this whilst being lightweight and easy to use.

Cylance’s AI, as discussed earlier in the SL Labs segment, has been demonstrated as effective against futuristic threats even without the need for updates as it could protect against threats more than 2 years into the future.

An issue we encountered, though, is the lack of anti-phishing protection. Since it works by predicting the patterns of viruses and threats, it doesn't bother much in saving what website might be a fraud. We found this to be an issue, which we hope that Cylance will address in the future.
 

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Cylance mobile app

Cylance is compatible with iOS and Android. When purchased and downloaded, it can provide the best protection leaving your device secure.
 

Extra features

Among the major extra features provided by antiviruses, Cylance stands as follows:
 

• Password manager

Cylance antivirus doesn’t provide a password manager.

Using the same password, again and again, runs the risk of getting hacked across all your accounts when hacked on one, while using different passwords runs the risk of forgetting them. Password managers are the perfect solution.
 

• Online banking

Cylance antivirus doesn't provide safe online banking.

With safe online banking, a user would be able to do online transactions in safe environments without the risk of losing his information to a man in the middle attack or other attempts at stealing your data. Unfortunately, Cylance antivirus doesn't provide this feature.
 

• Parental control

Cylance antivirus doesn’t have the parental control feature.

Parental control allows worried parents to take care of their children and make sure they are surfing safe parts of the internet and when they are allowed to do so.
 

• VPN

Cylance antivirus doesn't have a VPN service provided.
 

• Backup

 Cylance doesn’t provide online backup.

The presence of encrypted online backup can give peace of mind, especially when one has sensitive documents relating to work, personal, and sensitive files. Moreover, with the online backup, a user can save his files if the main files are lost, which can prove helpful.
 

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User Experience

provides a great user experience for users, whether in the form of the scan speed, the simple user interface, or smooth customer support.

Since Cylance is cloud-based, this means it won't take up that much of your device's space as it only needs to download a small part on your device while the bulk of its system is saved online.
 

1. Ease of use

Cylance uses a cloud-based system where the antivirus is reached through an online interface. However, it does include an offline mode to use while you're not connected to the internet.

The user interface might feel a bit confusing at first for some users with the jumps between the device interface and the online cloud-based interface. We believe in this department; it could have been made easier.

2. Customer support

In terms of customer support, the following methods of contact are available for users when they need help:

• Knowledge base
• Blog
• FAQs
   

Pricing and Payments

Cylance prices per plan summarized in a table:

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Payment methods

Payment methods include:

• Major credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover).
• PayPal.
   

Free trial

Cylance doesn't provide a direct free trial outside the money-back guarantee.
 

Money-back guarantee

A 30-day money-back guarantee with no questions asked is available for users so that they can test this product before making a final decision.
 

Final Verdict

Is Cylance worth it? In terms of protection, Cylance might be a top competitor. 

Despite the lack of vast amounts of data regarding third-party test labs, Cylance's AI learning mechanism of action and previous tests, which had predicted some of the dangerous threats out there, make it an excellent choice for those interested in protecting their devices strictly.

The cloud-based system means it won't take much of your device's space and allows access to all devices from the online interface. However, The major issue is the lack of the extra features you might expect from other competitors, but again they are extras features rather than the major issue (protection).

That being said, while it's a great choice, for some people who still think the extra features are a necessity, we recommend Norton 360, which combines high protection with many more features.