18 Oct How Does Antivirus Software Identify Potential Viruses?
When selecting an antivirus program for your home or business it’s important to think about more than just a program’s detection rate in controlled tests. You also want to make sure that it is able to detect new malware and viruses. The virus writers are always working on ways to defeat antivirus software. They create viruses to degrade them, hide themselves from detection methods and even evade antivirus software.
One of the earliest types of antivirus programs functioned by comparing files coming into devices against their database of known malware signatures. This is a form of signature detection and works very well for older malware, but the issue is that virus makers can create signatures for the latest types of viruses at any time and the antivirus security will always be in the process of catching up.
Modern versions of antivirus software employ Heuristic detection to detect possible threats. Heuristics are not looking for exact matches but rather examine the patterns of incoming software and files to determine whether it is in line with known malware. This technique is augmented by behavior-based detection that analyzes the way that a program or files behaves to determine if it’s malicious.
Some viruses attempt to thwart antivirus programs by hiding from detection, preventing access to the antivirus program’s update system and causing corruption to library or code files that a virus scanner requires to function. Some viruses are more sophisticated and will directly modify or disable parts of the antivirus software. These viruses are becoming increasingly prevalent and include features like an worm that is spread from one computer to another.
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