Malware Detection Module using Machine Learning Algorithms to Assist in Centr...IJNSA Journal
Malicious software is abundant in a world of innumerable computer users, who are constantly faced withthese threats from various sources like the internet, local networks and portable drives. Malware is potentially low to high risk and can cause systems to function incorrectly, steal data and even crash. Malware may be executable or system library files in the form of viruses, worms, Trojans, all aimed at breaching the security of the system and compromising user privacy. Typically, anti-virus software is based on a signature definition system which keeps updating from the internet and thus keeping track of known viruses. While this may be sufficient for home-users, a security risk from a new virus could threaten an entire enterprise network. This paper proposes a new and more sophisticated antivirus engine that can not only scan files, but also build knowledge and detect files as potential viruses. This is done by extracting system API calls made by various normal and harmful executable, and using machine learning algorithms to classify and hence, rank files on a scale of security risk. While such a system is processor heavy, it is very effective when used centrally to protect an enterprise network which maybe more prone to such threats.
Malware Detection Module using Machine Learning Algorithms to Assist in Centr...IJNSA Journal
Malicious software is abundant in a world of innumerable computer users, who are constantly faced withthese threats from various sources like the internet, local networks and portable drives. Malware is potentially low to high risk and can cause systems to function incorrectly, steal data and even crash. Malware may be executable or system library files in the form of viruses, worms, Trojans, all aimed at breaching the security of the system and compromising user privacy. Typically, anti-virus software is based on a signature definition system which keeps updating from the internet and thus keeping track of known viruses. While this may be sufficient for home-users, a security risk from a new virus could threaten an entire enterprise network. This paper proposes a new and more sophisticated antivirus engine that can not only scan files, but also build knowledge and detect files as potential viruses. This is done by extracting system API calls made by various normal and harmful executable, and using machine learning algorithms to classify and hence, rank files on a scale of security risk. While such a system is processor heavy, it is very effective when used centrally to protect an enterprise network which maybe more prone to such threats.
Using Multiple Antivirus Engine Scanning to Protect Critical InfrastructureOPSWAT
Tony Berning, Senior Product Manager at OPSWAT, gave a talk on Securing Critical Infrastructure, using multiple anti-malware engines and other methods, to an audience of academic researchers, operators of power plants and other workers in critical infrastructure. The presentation introduced the basics of multi-scanning and the benefits of utilizing multiple anti-malware engines to scan files. The presentation also covered topics related to defining and setting appropriate security policies for various user groups and outlining common security architectures.
This white paper examines why having multiple anti-virus scanners at mail server level substantially reduces the chance of virus infection and explores ways in which this can be achieved.
Using Multiple Antivirus Engine Scanning to Protect Critical InfrastructureOPSWAT
Tony Berning, Senior Product Manager at OPSWAT, gave a talk on Securing Critical Infrastructure, using multiple anti-malware engines and other methods, to an audience of academic researchers, operators of power plants and other workers in critical infrastructure. The presentation introduced the basics of multi-scanning and the benefits of utilizing multiple anti-malware engines to scan files. The presentation also covered topics related to defining and setting appropriate security policies for various user groups and outlining common security architectures.
This white paper examines why having multiple anti-virus scanners at mail server level substantially reduces the chance of virus infection and explores ways in which this can be achieved.
This Presentation explains about Firewalls, Viruses and Antiviruses. I hope this presentation may help you in understanding about Viruses, Firewall and Antiviruses Software.
Malware is a worldwide pandemic. It is designed to damage computer systems without
the knowledge of the owner using the system. Software‟s from reputable vendors also contain
malicious code that affects the system or leaks information‟s to remote servers. Malware‟s includes
computer viruses, spyware, dishonest ad-ware, rootkits, Trojans, dialers etc. Malware detectors are
the primary tools in defense against malware. The quality of such a detector is determined by the
techniques it uses. It is therefore imperative that we study malware detection techniques and
understand their strengths and limitations. This survey examines different types of Malware and
malware detection methods.
CS266 Software Reverse Engineering (SRE)
Identifying, Monitoring, and Reporting Malware
Teodoro (Ted) Cipresso, teodoro.cipresso@sjsu.edu
Department of Computer Science
San José State University
Spring 2015
Basic survey on malware analysis, tools and techniquesijcsa
The term malware stands for malicious software. It is a program installed on a system without the
knowledge of owner of the system. It is basically installed by the third party with the intention to steal some
private data from the system or simply just to play pranks. This in turn threatens the computer’s security,
wherein computer are used by one’s in day-to-day life as to deal with various necessities like education,
communication, hospitals, banking, entertainment etc. Different traditional techniques are used to detect
and defend these malwares like Antivirus Scanner (AVS), firewalls, etc. But today malware writers are one
step forward towards then Malware detectors. Day-by-day they write new malwares, which become a great
challenge for malware detectors. This paper focuses on basis study of malwares and various detection
techniques which can be used to detect malwares.
Zero-Day Vulnerability and Heuristic AnalysisAhmed Banafa
A zero day vulnerability refers to a hole in software that is unknown to the vendor. This security hole is then exploited by hackers before the vendor becomes aware and fix it. Uses of zero day attacks can include infiltrating malware, spyware or allowing unwanted access to user information.
The term “zero day” refers to the unknown nature of the hole to those outside of the hackers, specifically, the developers. Once the vulnerability becomes known, a race begins for the developer, who must protect users.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 3DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 3. In this session, we will cover desktop automation along with UI automation.
Topics covered:
UI automation Introduction,
UI automation Sample
Desktop automation flow
Pradeep Chinnala, Senior Consultant Automation Developer @WonderBotz and UiPath MVP
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
Essentials of Automations: Optimizing FME Workflows with ParametersSafe Software
Are you looking to streamline your workflows and boost your projects’ efficiency? Do you find yourself searching for ways to add flexibility and control over your FME workflows? If so, you’re in the right place.
Join us for an insightful dive into the world of FME parameters, a critical element in optimizing workflow efficiency. This webinar marks the beginning of our three-part “Essentials of Automation” series. This first webinar is designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills to utilize parameters effectively: enhancing the flexibility, maintainability, and user control of your FME projects.
Here’s what you’ll gain:
- Essentials of FME Parameters: Understand the pivotal role of parameters, including Reader/Writer, Transformer, User, and FME Flow categories. Discover how they are the key to unlocking automation and optimization within your workflows.
- Practical Applications in FME Form: Delve into key user parameter types including choice, connections, and file URLs. Allow users to control how a workflow runs, making your workflows more reusable. Learn to import values and deliver the best user experience for your workflows while enhancing accuracy.
- Optimization Strategies in FME Flow: Explore the creation and strategic deployment of parameters in FME Flow, including the use of deployment and geometry parameters, to maximize workflow efficiency.
- Pro Tips for Success: Gain insights on parameterizing connections and leveraging new features like Conditional Visibility for clarity and simplicity.
We’ll wrap up with a glimpse into future webinars, followed by a Q&A session to address your specific questions surrounding this topic.
Don’t miss this opportunity to elevate your FME expertise and drive your projects to new heights of efficiency.
Generating a custom Ruby SDK for your web service or Rails API using Smithyg2nightmarescribd
Have you ever wanted a Ruby client API to communicate with your web service? Smithy is a protocol-agnostic language for defining services and SDKs. Smithy Ruby is an implementation of Smithy that generates a Ruby SDK using a Smithy model. In this talk, we will explore Smithy and Smithy Ruby to learn how to generate custom feature-rich SDKs that can communicate with any web service, such as a Rails JSON API.
Builder.ai Founder Sachin Dev Duggal's Strategic Approach to Create an Innova...Ramesh Iyer
In today's fast-changing business world, Companies that adapt and embrace new ideas often need help to keep up with the competition. However, fostering a culture of innovation takes much work. It takes vision, leadership and willingness to take risks in the right proportion. Sachin Dev Duggal, co-founder of Builder.ai, has perfected the art of this balance, creating a company culture where creativity and growth are nurtured at each stage.
Transcript: Selling digital books in 2024: Insights from industry leaders - T...BookNet Canada
The publishing industry has been selling digital audiobooks and ebooks for over a decade and has found its groove. What’s changed? What has stayed the same? Where do we go from here? Join a group of leading sales peers from across the industry for a conversation about the lessons learned since the popularization of digital books, best practices, digital book supply chain management, and more.
Link to video recording: https://bnctechforum.ca/sessions/selling-digital-books-in-2024-insights-from-industry-leaders/
Presented by BookNet Canada on May 28, 2024, with support from the Department of Canadian Heritage.
Neuro-symbolic is not enough, we need neuro-*semantic*Frank van Harmelen
Neuro-symbolic (NeSy) AI is on the rise. However, simply machine learning on just any symbolic structure is not sufficient to really harvest the gains of NeSy. These will only be gained when the symbolic structures have an actual semantics. I give an operational definition of semantics as “predictable inference”.
All of this illustrated with link prediction over knowledge graphs, but the argument is general.
Key Trends Shaping the Future of Infrastructure.pdfCheryl Hung
Keynote at DIGIT West Expo, Glasgow on 29 May 2024.
Cheryl Hung, ochery.com
Sr Director, Infrastructure Ecosystem, Arm.
The key trends across hardware, cloud and open-source; exploring how these areas are likely to mature and develop over the short and long-term, and then considering how organisations can position themselves to adapt and thrive.
JMeter webinar - integration with InfluxDB and GrafanaRTTS
Watch this recorded webinar about real-time monitoring of application performance. See how to integrate Apache JMeter, the open-source leader in performance testing, with InfluxDB, the open-source time-series database, and Grafana, the open-source analytics and visualization application.
In this webinar, we will review the benefits of leveraging InfluxDB and Grafana when executing load tests and demonstrate how these tools are used to visualize performance metrics.
Length: 30 minutes
Session Overview
-------------------------------------------
During this webinar, we will cover the following topics while demonstrating the integrations of JMeter, InfluxDB and Grafana:
- What out-of-the-box solutions are available for real-time monitoring JMeter tests?
- What are the benefits of integrating InfluxDB and Grafana into the load testing stack?
- Which features are provided by Grafana?
- Demonstration of InfluxDB and Grafana using a practice web application
To view the webinar recording, go to:
https://www.rttsweb.com/jmeter-integration-webinar
Software Delivery At the Speed of AI: Inflectra Invests In AI-Powered QualityInflectra
In this insightful webinar, Inflectra explores how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming software development and testing. Discover how AI-powered tools are revolutionizing every stage of the software development lifecycle (SDLC), from design and prototyping to testing, deployment, and monitoring.
Learn about:
• The Future of Testing: How AI is shifting testing towards verification, analysis, and higher-level skills, while reducing repetitive tasks.
• Test Automation: How AI-powered test case generation, optimization, and self-healing tests are making testing more efficient and effective.
• Visual Testing: Explore the emerging capabilities of AI in visual testing and how it's set to revolutionize UI verification.
• Inflectra's AI Solutions: See demonstrations of Inflectra's cutting-edge AI tools like the ChatGPT plugin and Azure Open AI platform, designed to streamline your testing process.
Whether you're a developer, tester, or QA professional, this webinar will give you valuable insights into how AI is shaping the future of software delivery.
Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey 2024 by 91mobiles.pdf91mobiles
91mobiles recently conducted a Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey in which we asked over 3,000 respondents about the TV they own, aspects they look at on a new TV, and their TV buying preferences.
GDG Cloud Southlake #33: Boule & Rebala: Effective AppSec in SDLC using Deplo...James Anderson
Effective Application Security in Software Delivery lifecycle using Deployment Firewall and DBOM
The modern software delivery process (or the CI/CD process) includes many tools, distributed teams, open-source code, and cloud platforms. Constant focus on speed to release software to market, along with the traditional slow and manual security checks has caused gaps in continuous security as an important piece in the software supply chain. Today organizations feel more susceptible to external and internal cyber threats due to the vast attack surface in their applications supply chain and the lack of end-to-end governance and risk management.
The software team must secure its software delivery process to avoid vulnerability and security breaches. This needs to be achieved with existing tool chains and without extensive rework of the delivery processes. This talk will present strategies and techniques for providing visibility into the true risk of the existing vulnerabilities, preventing the introduction of security issues in the software, resolving vulnerabilities in production environments quickly, and capturing the deployment bill of materials (DBOM).
Speakers:
Bob Boule
Robert Boule is a technology enthusiast with PASSION for technology and making things work along with a knack for helping others understand how things work. He comes with around 20 years of solution engineering experience in application security, software continuous delivery, and SaaS platforms. He is known for his dynamic presentations in CI/CD and application security integrated in software delivery lifecycle.
Gopinath Rebala
Gopinath Rebala is the CTO of OpsMx, where he has overall responsibility for the machine learning and data processing architectures for Secure Software Delivery. Gopi also has a strong connection with our customers, leading design and architecture for strategic implementations. Gopi is a frequent speaker and well-known leader in continuous delivery and integrating security into software delivery.
Accelerate your Kubernetes clusters with Varnish CachingThijs Feryn
A presentation about the usage and availability of Varnish on Kubernetes. This talk explores the capabilities of Varnish caching and shows how to use the Varnish Helm chart to deploy it to Kubernetes.
This presentation was delivered at K8SUG Singapore. See https://feryn.eu/presentations/accelerate-your-kubernetes-clusters-with-varnish-caching-k8sug-singapore-28-2024 for more details.
2. Antivirus, anti-virus, or AV software is computer software used to prevent, detect and
remove malicious computer viruses. Most software described as antivirus also works against
other types of malware, such as malicious Browser Helper Objects (BHOs), browser hijackers,
ransomware, keyloggers, backdoors, rootkits, trojan horses, worms, malicious LSPs, dialers,
fraudtools, adware and spyware.[1]
Computer security, including protection from social
engineering techniques, is commonly offered in products and services of antivirus software
companies.[2]
This page discusses the software used for the prevention, detection, and removal of
malwarethreats, rather than computer security implemented by software methods.
A variety of strategies are typically employed. Signature-based detection involves searching
for known patterns of data within executable code. However, it is possible for a computer to be
infected with new malware for which no signature is yet known; and malware is often modified
to change its signature without affecting functionality. To counter such so-called zero-day
threats, heuristics can be used. One type of heuristic approach, generic signatures, can identify
variants by looking for slight variations of known malicious code in files. Some antivirus
software can also predict what a file will do by running it in a sandbox and analyzing what it
does to see if it performs any actions which could be malicious.
Antivirus software has some drawbacks. It can impair a computer's performance.[3]
Inexperienced users can be lulled into a false sense of security when using the computer,
considering themselves to be totally protected, and may have problems understanding the
prompts and decisions that antivirus software presents them with. An incorrect decision may lead
to a security breach. If the antivirus software employs heuristic detection, it must be fine-tuned to
minimize misidentifying harmless software as malicious (false positive).[4]
Antivirus software
itself usually runs at the highly trusted kernel level of the operating system to allow it access to
all potential malicious process and files, creating a potential avenue of attack.[5]
Contents
1 History
2 Identification method
o 2.1 Signature-based detection
o 2.2 Heuristics
o 2.3 Rootkit detection
o 2.4 Real-time protection
3 Issues of concern
o 3.1 Unexpected renewal costs
o 3.2 Rogue security applications
o 3.3 Problems caused by false positives
o 3.4 System and interoperability related issues
o 3.5 Effectiveness
o 3.6 New viruses
o 3.7 Rootkits
o 3.8 Damaged files
o 3.9 Firmware issues
4 Other methods
3. o 4.1 Cloud antivirus
o 4.2 Network firewall
o 4.3 Online scanning
o 4.4 Specialist tools
5 Usage and risks
6 See also
7 References
8 Bibliography
9 External links
History
An example of free antivirus software: ClamTk 3.08.
See also: Timeline of notable computer viruses and worms
Most of the computer viruses written in the early and mid-1980s were limited to self-
reproduction and had no specific damage routine built into the code.[6]
That changed when more
and more programmers became acquainted with virus programming and created viruses that
manipulated or even destroyed data on infected computers.
There are competing claims for the innovator of the first antivirus product. Possibly the first
publicly documented removal of a computer virus in the wild was performed by Bernd Fix in
1987.[7][8]
There were also two antivirus applications for the Atari ST platform developed in
1987. The first one was G Data[9]
and second was UVK 2000.[10]
Fred Cohen, who published one of the first academic papers on computer viruses in 1984,[11]
began to develop strategies for antivirus software in 1988[12]
that were picked up and continued
by later antivirus software developers. In 1987, he published a demonstration that there is no
algorithm that can perfectly detect all possible viruses.[13]
In 1987 the first two heuristic antivirus utilities were released: Flushot Plus by Ross
Greenberg and Anti4us by Erwin Lanting.[citation needed]
Also in 1988 a mailing list named VIRUS-L[14]
was started on the BITNET/EARN network
where new viruses and the possibilities of detecting and eliminating viruses were discussed.
4. Some members of this mailing list like John McAfee or Eugene Kaspersky later founded
software companies that developed and sold commercial antivirus software.
Before internet connectivity was widespread, viruses were typically spread by infected
floppy disks. Antivirus software came into use, but was updated relatively infrequently. During
this time, virus checkers essentially had to check executable files and the boot sectors of floppy
disks and hard disks. However, as internet usage became common, viruses began to spread
online.[15]
Over the years it has become necessary for antivirus software to check an increasing variety
of files, rather than just executables, for several reasons:
Powerful macros used in word processor applications, such as Microsoft Word, presented
a risk. Virus writers could use the macros to write viruses embedded within documents.
This meant that computers could now also be at risk from infection by opening
documents with hidden attached macros.[16]
The possibility of embedding executable objects inside otherwise non-executable file
formats can make opening those files a risk.[17]
Later email programs, in particular Microsoft's Outlook Express and Outlook, were
vulnerable to viruses embedded in the email body itself. A user's computer could be
infected by just opening or previewing a message.[18]
As always-on broadband connections became the norm, and more and more viruses were
released, it became essential to update virus checkers more and more frequently. Even then, a
new zero-day virus could become widespread before antivirus companies released an update to
protect against it.
Identification method
Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware version 1.46 - a proprietary freeware antimalware product
One of the few solid theoretical results in the study of computer viruses is Frederick B.
Cohen's 1987 demonstration that there is no algorithm that can perfectly detect all possible
viruses.[13]
There are several methods which antivirus software can use to identify malware:
5. Signature based detection is the most common method. To identify viruses and other
malware, antivirus software compares the contents of a file to a dictionary of virus
signatures. Because viruses can embed themselves in existing files, the entire file is
searched, not just as a whole, but also in pieces.[19]
Heuristic-based detection like malicious activity detection, can be used to identify
unknown viruses.
File emulation is another heuristic approach. File emulation involves executing a program
in a virtual environment and logging what actions the program performs. Depending on
the actions logged, the antivirus software can determine if the program is malicious or not
and then carry out the appropriate disinfection actions.[20]
Signature-based detection
Traditionally, antivirus software heavily relied upon signatures to identify malware. This can
be very effective, but cannot defend against malware unless samples have already been obtained
and signatures created. Because of this, signature-based approaches are not effective against
new, unknown viruses.
As new viruses are being created each day, the signature-based detection approach requires
frequent updates of the virus signature dictionary. To assist the antivirus software companies, the
software may allow the user to upload new viruses or variants to the company, allowing the virus
to be analyzed and the signature added to the dictionary.[19]
Although the signature-based approach can effectively contain virus outbreaks, virus authors
have tried to stay a step ahead of such software by writing "oligomorphic", "polymorphic" and,
more recently, "metamorphic" viruses, which encrypt parts of themselves or otherwise modify
themselves as a method of disguise, so as to not match virus signatures in the dictionary.[21]
Heuristics
Some more sophisticated antivirus software uses heuristic analysis to identify new malware
or variants of known malware.
Many viruses start as a single infection and through either mutation or refinements by other
attackers, can grow into dozens of slightly different strains, called variants. Generic detection
refers to the detection and removal of multiple threats using a single virus definition.[22]
For example, the Vundotrojan has several family members, depending on the antivirus
vendor's classification. Symantec classifies members of the Vundo family into two distinct
categories, Trojan.Vundo and Trojan.Vundo.B.[23][24]
While it may be advantageous to identify a specific virus, it can be quicker to detect a virus
family through a generic signature or through an inexact match to an existing signature. Virus
researchers find common areas that all viruses in a family share uniquely and can thus create a
6. single generic signature. These signatures often contain non-contiguous code, using wildcard
characters where differences lie. These wildcards allow the scanner to detect viruses even if they
are padded with extra, meaningless code.[25]
A detection that uses this method is said to be
"heuristic detection."
Rootkit detection
Main article: Rootkit
Anti-virus software can attempt to scan for rootkits; a rootkit is a type of malware that is
designed to gain administrative-level control over a computer system without being detected.
Rootkits can change how the operating system functions and in some cases can tamper with the
anti-virus program and render it ineffective. Rootkits are also difficult to remove, in some cases
requiring a complete re-installation of the operating system.[26]
Real-time protection
Real-time protection, on-access scanning, background guard, resident shield, autoprotect, and
other synonyms refer to the automatic protection provided by most antivirus, anti-spyware, and
other anti-malware programs. This monitors computer systems for suspicious activity such as
computer viruses, spyware, adware, and other malicious objects in 'real-time', in other words
while data loaded into the computer's active memory: when inserting a CD, opening an email, or
browsing the web, or when a file already on the computer is opened or executed.[27]
Issues of concern
Unexpected renewal costs
Some commercial antivirus software end-user license agreements include a clause that the
subscription will be automatically renewed, and the purchaser's credit card automatically billed,
at the renewal time without explicit approval. For example, McAfee requires users to
unsubscribe at least 60 days before the expiration of the present subscription[28]
while
BitDefender sends notifications to unsubscribe 30 days before the renewal.[29]
Norton AntiVirus
also renews subscriptions automatically by default.[30]
Rogue security applications
Main article: Rogue security software
Some apparent antivirus programs are actually malware masquerading as legitimate software,
such as WinFixer, MS Antivirus, and Mac Defender.[31]
Problems caused by false positives
7. A "false positive" is when antivirus software identifies a non-malicious file as a virus. When
this happens, it can cause serious problems. For example, if an antivirus program is configured to
immediately delete or quarantine infected files, a false positive in an essential file can render the
operating system or some applications unusable.[32]
In May 2007, a faulty virus signature issued
by Symantec mistakenly removed essential operating system files, leaving thousands of PCs
unable to boot.[33]
Also in May 2007, the executable file required by Pegasus Mail was falsely
detected by Norton AntiVirus as being a Trojan and it was automatically removed, preventing
Pegasus Mail from running. Norton AntiVirus had falsely identified three releases of Pegasus
Mail as malware, and would delete the Pegasus Mail installer file when that happened.[34]
In
response to this Pegasus Mail stated:
“
On the basis that Norton/Symantec has done this for every one of the last three
releases of Pegasus Mail, we can only condemn this product as too flawed to use, and
recommend in the strongest terms that our users cease using it in favour of
alternative, less buggy anti-virus packages.[34] ”
In April 2010, McAfee VirusScan detected svchost.exe, a normal Windows binary, as a virus
on machines running Windows XP with Service Pack 3, causing a reboot loop and loss of all
network access.[35][36]
In December 2010, a faulty update on the AVG anti-virus suite damaged 64-bit versions of
Windows 7, rendering it unable to boot, due to an endless boot loop created.[37]
In October 2011, Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) removed the Google Chrome web
browser, rival to Microsoft's own Internet Explorer. MSE flagged Chrome as a Zbot banking
trojan.[38]
When Microsoft Windows becomes damaged by faulty anti-virus products, fixing the
damage to Microsoft Windows incurs technical support costs and businesses can be forced to
close whilst remedial action is undertaken.[39][40]
System and interoperability related issues
Running multiple antivirus programs concurrently can degrade performance and create
conflicts.[41]
However, using a concept called multiscanning, several companies (including G
Data[42]
and Microsoft[43]
) have created applications which can run multiple engines
concurrently.
It is sometimes necessary to temporarily disable virus protection when installing major
updates such as Windows Service Packs or updating graphics card drivers.[44]
Active antivirus
protection may partially or completely prevent the installation of a major update. Anti-virus
software can cause problems during the installation of an operating system upgrade, e.g. when
upgrading to a newer version of Windows "in place" — without erasing the previous version of
Windows. Microsoft recommends that anti-virus software be disabled to avoid conflicts with the
upgrade installation process.[45][46][47]
8. The functionality of a few computer programs can be hampered by active anti-virus software.
For example TrueCrypt, a disk encryption program, states on its troubleshooting page that anti-
virus programs can conflict with TrueCrypt and cause it to malfunction or operate very
slowly.[48]
Anti-virus software can impair the performance and stability of games running in the
Steam platform.[49]
Support issues also exist around antivirus application interoperability with common solutions
like SSL VPN remote access and network access control products.[50]
These technology solutions
often have policy assessment applications which require that an up to date antivirus is installed
and running. If the antivirus application is not recognized by the policy assessment, whether
because the antivirus application has been updated or because it is not part of the policy
assessment library, the user will be unable to connect.
Effectiveness
Studies in December 2007 showed that the effectiveness of antivirus software had decreased
in the previous year, particularly against unknown or zero day attacks. The computer magazine
c't found that detection rates for these threats had dropped from 40-50% in 2006 to 20-30% in
2007. At that time, the only exception was the NOD32 antivirus, which managed a detection rate
of 68 percent.[51]
The problem is magnified by the changing intent of virus authors. Some years ago it was
obvious when a virus infection was present. The viruses of the day, written by amateurs,
exhibited destructive behavior or pop-ups. Modern viruses are often written by professionals,
financed by criminal organizations.[52]
Independent testing on all the major virus scanners consistently shows that none provide
100% virus detection. The best ones provided as high as 99.9% detection for simulated real-
world situations, while the lowest provided 91.1% in tests conducted in August 2013. Many
virus scanners produce false positive results as well, identifying benign files as malware.[53]
Although methodologies may differ, some notable independent quality testing agencies
include AV-Comparatives, ICSA Labs, West Coast Labs, Virus Bulletin, AV-TEST and other
members of the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization.[54][55]
New viruses
Anti-virus programs are not always effective against new viruses, even those that use non-
signature-based methods that should detect new viruses. The reason for this is that the virus
designers test their new viruses on the major anti-virus applications to make sure that they are
not detected before releasing them into the wild.[56]
Some new viruses, particularly ransomware, use polymorphic code to avoid detection by
virus scanners. Jerome Segura, a security analyst with ParetoLogic, explained:[57]
9. “
It's something that they miss a lot of the time because this type of [ransomware
virus] comes from sites that use a polymorphism, which means they basically
randomize the file they send you and it gets by well-known antivirus products very
easily. I've seen people firsthand getting infected, having all the pop-ups and yet they
have antivirus software running and it's not detecting anything. It actually can be
pretty hard to get rid of, as well, and you're never really sure if it's really gone. When
we see something like that usually we advise to reinstall the operating system or
reinstall backups.[57] ”
A proof of concept virus has used the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) to avoid detection
from anti-virus software. The potential success of this involves bypassing the CPU in order to
make it much harder for security researchers to analyse the inner workings of such malware.[58]
Rootkits
Detecting rootkits is a major challenge for anti-virus programs. Rootkits have full
administrative access to the computer and are invisible to users and hidden from the list of
running processes in the task manager. Rootkits can modify the inner workings of the operating
system[59]
and tamper with antivirus programs.
Damaged files
Files which have been damaged by computer viruses are normally damaged beyond
recovery. Anti-virus software removes the virus code from the file during disinfection, but this
does not always restore the file to its undamaged state. In such circumstances, damaged files can
only be restored from existing backups; installed software that is damaged requires re-
installation[60]
(however, see System File Checker).
Firmware issues
Active anti-virus software can interfere with a firmware update process.[61]
Any writeable
firmware in the computer can be infected by malicious code.[62]
This is a major concern, as an
infected BIOS could require the actual BIOS chip to be replaced to ensure the malicious code is
completely removed.[63]
Anti-virus software is not effective at protecting firmware and the
motherboard BIOS from infection.[64]
Other methods
10. A command-line virus scanner, Clam AV 0.95.2, running a virus signature definition update,
scanning a file and identifying a Trojan
Installed antivirus software running on an individual computer is only one method of
guarding against viruses. Other methods are also used, including cloud-based antivirus, firewalls
and on-line scanners.
Cloud antivirus
Cloud antivirus is a technology that uses lightweight agent software on the protected
computer, while offloading the majority of data analysis to the provider's infrastructure.[65]
One approach to implementing cloud antivirus involves scanning suspicious files using
multiple antivirus engines. This approach was proposed by an early implementation of the cloud
antivirus concept called CloudAV. CloudAV was designed to send programs or documents to a
network cloud where multiple antivirus and behavioral detection programs are used
simultaneously in order to improve detection rates. Parallel scanning of files using potentially
incompatible antivirus scanners is achieved by spawning a virtual machine per detection engine
and therefore eliminating any possible issues. CloudAV can also perform "retrospective
detection," whereby the cloud detection engine rescans all files in its file access history when a
new threat is identified thus improving new threat detection speed. Finally, CloudAV is a
solution for effective virus scanning on devices that lack the computing power to perform the
scans themselves.[66]
Some examples of cloud anti-virus products are Panda Cloud Antivirus and Immunet.
Network firewall
Network firewalls prevent unknown programs and processes from accessing the system.
However, they are not antivirus systems and make no attempt to identify or remove anything.
They may protect against infection from outside the protected computer or network, and limit the
activity of any malicious software which is present by blocking incoming or outgoing requests
on certain TCP/IP ports. A firewall is designed to deal with broader system threats that come
from network connections into the system and is not an alternative to a virus protection system.
Online scanning
11. Some antivirus vendors maintain websites with free online scanning capability of the entire
computer, critical areas only, local disks, folders or files. Periodic online scanning is a good idea
for those that run antivirus applications on their computers because those applications are
frequently slow to catch threats. One of the first things that malicious software does in an attack
is disable any existing antivirus software and sometimes the only way to know of an attack is by
turning to an online resource that is not installed on the infected computer.[67]
Specialist tools
Using rkhunter to scan for rootkits on an UbuntuLinux computer.
Virus removal tools are available to help remove stubborn infections or certain types of
infection. Examples include Trend Micro's Rootkit Buster,[68]
and rkhunter for the detection of
rootkits, Avira's AntiVir Removal Tool,[69]
PCTools Threat Removal Tool,[70]
and AVG's Anti-
Virus Free 2011.[71]
A rescue disk that is bootable, such as a CD or USB storage device, can be used to run
antivirus software outside of the installed operating system, in order to remove infections while
they are dormant. A bootable antivirus disk can be useful when, for example, the installed
operating system is no longer bootable or has malware that is resisting all attempts to be removed
by the installed antivirus software. Examples of some of these bootable disks include the
AviraAntiVir Rescue System,[69]
PCTools Alternate Operating System Scanner,[72]
and AVG
Rescue CD.[73]
The AVG Rescue CD software can also be installed onto a USB storage device,
that is bootable on newer computers.[73]
Usage and risks
According to an FBI survey, major businesses lose $12 million annually dealing with virus
incidents.[74]
A survey by Symantec in 2009 found that a third of small to medium sized business
did not use antivirus protection at that time, whereas more than 80% of home users had some
kind of antivirus installed.[75]
According to a sociological survey conducted by G Data Software
in 2010 49% of women did not use any antivirus program at all.[76]