Why Your Current Antivirus Is Not Enough
Traditional antivirus programs have been the primary means of protecting computers since the
late 1980s. With traditional antivirus, digital threats are detected by comparing files on your
computer to files in a threat database. If a file on your machine matches a file in the threat
database, it’s considered a virus and removed.
This has worked relatively well – until now.
You see, bad actors, or hackers, don’t like being blocked by your traditional antivirus solution.
They’ve been working hard to find a way around your protection. And they’ve been successful
with a new generation of viruses.
The new generation of viruses is called “polymorphic.” That’s just a fancy name for changing all
the time. Today’s viruses change themselves each time they replicate. By constantly changing,
they do not match anything in the threat database, so traditional antivirus software does not
see the file as dangerous.
A file that is not in the threat database is referred to as a zero-day attack. You do not want a
zero-day on your computer! Zero-day attacks have very high success rates.
Even the smallest of changes completely cloaks the virus from detection, turning it into a zero-
day event. Pretty ingenious, and very dangerous! Unless you have next generation antivirus.
Next Generation Antivirus (NGAV)
Next generation antivirus differs from traditional antivirus solutions by incorporating many
extra features, such as the ability to learn the behavior of the computer, identifying any change
in behavior and stopping that behavior before it can cause damage. This enhanced learning and
comparing current activities of the computer with typical activities is enhanced with artificial
intelligence (AI) and machine learning which are then utilized in predictive analytics.
NGAV solutions launch newly installed files in a safe space on your computer and see what the
file tries to do. This safe space is called a “sandbox.” The sandbox protects the rest of the
computer from the potential threat until the file can be considered safe.
NGAV solutions monitor your internet traffic and see if your computer is communicating in a
suspicious manner.
While you are browsing the internet, your NGAV stays active in scanning web pages for threats
before they are loaded into your browser. These new solutions also warn you if you are
engaging in a known social engineering scheme by monitoring the content you share via social
media and websites.
The best NGAV also have versions that you can install on your smartphone or tablet at no
additional charge.
These enhancements over traditional antivirus solutions create a holistic protection framework
that keeps your computer safe and secure on multiple levels.
Lastly, most NGAV solutions provide some backup storage. It’s usually not a lot, but it’s enough
for your critical files, documents and photos or videos. You should definitely have another
backup solution for all of your data, but having another place for your critical information is just
another layer of protection.
In addition to its focus on threat prevention, NGAV also protects the system against zero-day
exploits to handle malicious code that try to infect your computer.
Traditional antiviruses are no longer an effective means of protecting your computer in the
current threat landscape.
We recommend upgrading to a next generation antivirus system as soon as possible.
