How To Choose The Best Antivirus Software

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN AN ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE IS THE PRIMARY METHOD FOR PROTECTION FROM 100 NEW MALWARES PRODUCED EVERYDAY 1 REALTIME SCANNER The Antivirus Software realtime scanner monitors network data coming into your computer to intercept any malware. DoS.Generic.SYNFlood is accounted for 71.2% of Network Rest attacks 28.8% in 2009 71.2% DoS.Generic.SYNFlood 2 ON-ACCESS SCANNER The on-access scanner scans files as they are opened or accessed to detect any malware New Malicious Programs detected 2009 15 2008 10 1992 to 2007 3 ON-DEMAND SCANNER The on-demand scanner provides the ability to perform a custom scan of a file, folder or drive initiated by the user China hosted 52.7% of Internet malware in 2009 Others Start Scan 47.3% 4 HEURISTIC SCANNER Heuristic scanning uses what is known about existing malware and what it has learned from past experience to identify new threats even before the antivirus vendor creates an update to detect it Heuristic detection by far leads in identifying malicious links injected by hackers & malware into the code of compromised sites COMPRESSED FILE SCANNER Some malware may come inside a compressed file such as a ZIP file, or may even be embedded in a compressed file within a compressed file and so on. KIDO, the biggest epidemic of 2009, came to pass due to a critical vulnerability in the Windows operating system SCHEDULI SCANS Most antivirus software provides some method of creating a schedule to set when the software will automatically perform a scan while some antivirus programs may restrict what sort of scans can be scheduled. Companys' products containing most vulnerabilities Microsoft JUNE 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 789 1o 11 12 13 14 15 16 AT Sun 17 18 19 20 21 22 Adobe 23 24 25 26 microsystems 7 SCRIPT BLOCKING Script languages are frequently used to execute malicious code from web sites. Many antivirus programs have the ability to monitor Java, ActiveX, Visual Basic and other script files. coJava Visual Studio activex 165658505 Vulnerable files & applications were found in Apple QuickTime Microsoft 22.01.2009 release WEBMAIL PROTECTION The better antivirus programs can monitor web-based email traffic such as Hotmail or Yahoo! Mail to detect and block malware in file attachments Y! Spam Spam constituted 85.2% 85.2% of email traffic in 2009 9. INSTANT MESSAGING PROTECTION Some antivirus software will monitor instant messaging traffic such as AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) or Yahoo! Messenger to detect and block malicious threats 16% AIM The biggest source of spam mails is the US 10 AUTOMATIC VIRUS UPDATES Most antivirus software can be configured to automatically connect with the vendor site and download new updates on a regular basis The most dangerous applications for 2009 were QuickTime Microsoft Office Adobe Flash Player 11 24/7 SUPPORT Live Chat & Telephone Support (toll-free) are also facilitated by some Vendors to assist the customer 18.9% Highest Rate of Spam consists of Medications & health-related goods & services Sources http://netsecurity.about.com/od/antivirusandma lware/a/lookforav.htm http://www.securelist.com/en/analysis/204792100/Kaspersky_Security_Bulletin_2009_Malware_Evolution_2009 http://www.securelist.com/en/analysis/204792101/Kaspersky_Security_Bulletin_2009_Statistics_2009 http://www.securelist.com/en/analysis/204792102/Kaspersky_Security_Bulletin_Spam_Evolution_2009 Infographic provided by www.antivirus-software.me Vulnerabilities Millions