As cyber-terrorists and thieves continue to create newer, deadlier malware and viruses that are able to infiltrate systems and take information, corrupt files, and cause other harm it is essential to know how your antivirus software recognizes possible threats. As you’re probably aware, the main goal for most antivirus software is to identify and take out these threats before they cause harm. They do this by analyzing and analyzing your data, system files as well as computer programs.
Typically, antivirus programs employ signature-based identification to examine documents that you download against a database of signatures for known viruses. This method looks for fingerprints and matches the program or the file to the virus. It will alert you if the match has been discovered. This method is efficient, but hackers continue to create new and different types of malware. To recognize them, antivirus programs must keep their definition files current with the most current viruses.
Another method used by hackers to circumvent antivirus scanners is to encrypt the malware’s payload. Once a virus has been encoded, it will be able to avoid scans and signatures since it is not an executable. This is usually accomplished by attaching a tiny header to the virus. This allows it to jump the counter and execute the virus on the first opportunity.
Antivirus software employs a variety ways to detect viruses. These include heuristics-based identification and behaviour-based detection. Heuristic-based analysis is akin to signature detection, in that it seeks out patterns and tendencies in the behavior of a program. Heuristic detection, based on the trial-and-error method can identify viruses that signature-based methods can’t.