# Virus Classifications

Commtouch's Virus Outbreak Detection services (VOD™) are designed to detect new virus outbreaks. When Commtouch finds enough evidence to suggest the likelihood that an emerging virus is present, it is often recommended that you hold the message until the next relevant Command or other antivirus update instead of immediately deleting it (to avoid cases of false positives) or forwarding to the targeted recipients (to avoid cases of false negatives).

Holding the message until the next immediate antivirus update might not always be the best tactic to use, if the antivirus vendor has not had an opportunity to release the appropriate signature. Therefore, it is recommended that you determine the average response time for detecting new virus outbreaks for the particular antivirus software in use. You can then calculate how long to hold the message before again passing it to the antivirus software.

The following table describes the possible VOD classifications Commtouch can return for a query:

Virus | The message contains characteristics of confirmed malware.
High | High likelihood of the message presenting a malware threat.
Medium | Probable threat of malware in the message has been detected.
Unknown | Threat for malware could not be determined at this time.
NonVirus | Confirmed that message does not contain a malware.