The Data Shield protection included in Panda Dome products (Panda Dome Advanced, Panda Dome Complete and Panda Dome Premium) offers an extra layer of security against malware that tries to access sensitive user data for malicious purposes (theft, deleted or encrypted). A well known example of this type of malware is Cryptolocker. This ransomware cyphers user data asking for a ransom to recover them. Encryption is performed by a different private key on each PC that is stored on their servers, preventing the subsequent recovery of data even if the malware is removed and disinfected from the PC.
Data Shield allows the user to define the location of data to protect as well as the access permissions of installed programs. To do so, the first time you open the program, you will be shown the wizard to enable the data protection.
Follow the wizard through and once you finish, you will be able to access the protection settings.
In order to define the location of those folders you want to protect, and configure how this protection will work, click the Settings button and configure the following values:
- Data to protect: My documents folder is added by default, but from this section you can add or remove folders to protect by using the Add or Delete buttons acoordingly.
- File extensions to protect: By default, Data shield protects your office documents, images, audio and video files. You can customize and define specifically which file extensions you want to protect.
- Allowed and denied applications: You can define which programs can access the previously mentioned type of files.
- Allow safe applications: This option is enabled by default, and it grants access permissions to the above mentioned files for all applications that Panda considers to be safe.
Additionally, you can set the action to take when an attempt to access sensitive data is detected by a unknown application: Deny or Ask confirmation by the user.
In the video How to prevent malware from accessing your personal data, you can check how Data Shield protection works.
Please note that this video is based on the Data Shield protection that was initially included in Panda Cloud Antivirus. This protection is currently only available in the latest Panda products.