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The title and topic of this article is clearly controversial. It is guaranteed to get a strong reaction from the anti-virus industry, which is firmly convinced it sees clear sailing ahead. So, is anti-virus scanning obsolete? In a word, yes - but don’t throw out your scanner. Its replacement hasn’t been created yet. In this article we will examine the weaknesses of virus scanning that will cause its eventual downfall.
Anti-virus scanning is based upon the age-old principle of Newton’s law; for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Each time a new virus, or a new viral approach, is discovered, anti-virus scanners must be updated. To be sure, this isn’t always true. Heuristic scanning does have the capability to recognize some attacks as viral without having specific detection for the virus it has alerted on. In general, however, each new virus discovery requires an update of the scanning software’s “virus definition” files in order for the scanner to recognize the new virus.
In some cases (Melissa, for example) the scan “engine” (the algorithm that does the comparison between the virus’ behavior and the virus definition files and identifies viral content) must also be updated for the anti-virus scanner to be effective at detection (and hopefully eradication.) This constant updating process has several flaws. We’ll look at these flaws in detail.
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if you pick the average person off the street and ask them about information security, most of them will likely associate the term with the antivirus software on their computers. Most "civilians" are unfamiliar with terms such as "HIPS," "IDS," "IPS" and the vast assortment of other security products commonly in use. Those sorts of things operate behind the scenes. But, AV packages are widely deployed and are often offered free of charge when you buy a new computer -- at least for the first 30 days.
But, as the malware war continues to escalate, it is reasonable to question the level of effectiveness that antivirus software, as a category, brings to the table.
"When last I looked, there were 78,500,000 unique instances of malware, according to AV-Test.org," said Paul Henry, security and forensic analyst at Lumension, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based endpoint security company. "How in the world is anyone going to keep up with the signatures to inspect that large of a database?"
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Old articles but still valid.