Is anti-virus software dying soon?

Several years ago, we have heard that anti-virus software will die. Is this true? If so, it looks longer than Richard Nixon's tenure.

Unlike saying goodbye to the IT industry, it is better to find another way. mobile device security can help anti-virus software reproduce its vitality.

Since the middle of 1990s, the main threats to anti-virus have come from viruses and worms on the Windows platform. However, this situation has changed dramatically, vulnerabilities in Web applications can be exploited by hackers. terminal users trust threats on the network to bring them a disaster.

Many consumers had to spend at least $40 to buy anti-virus software similar to Norton Anti-virus, but now more users are embracing free anti-virus software such as AVG and avast. However, around us, millions of computers are still infected every day.

Although no anti-virus software is perfect, people often think that anti-virus software vendors do not do enough research work. The latest benchmark test shows that the detection rate of most anti-virus software is about 75%.

Anti-Spyware and anti-spam have become the standard configuration for most anti-virus software or anti-malware. as anti-virus software vendors incorporate these features into their security suits, behavior judgment, signature authentication, and heuristic engine development have received unprecedented attention. However, the author of malware adjusts and tests their code based on the anti-virus software until the anti-virus software does not trigger an alarm.

As an alternative, some vendors are switching to the whitelist technology, allowing only the preset solutions to run on computers. Gartner analyst John Pescatore said, "the white list technology is similar to Apple's iPhone Program Review, mainly to protect devices from running in a closed and effective environment ." (Bruce Schneier discussed the application status of the whitelist in anti-virus software last year)

Pescatore indicates that the anti-virus mode has changed significantly.

With the rise of smartphones and the emergence of electronic products like iPad, the biggest challenge for anti-virus software vendors is how to protect the security of these devices.

Rebecca Bace, Chief Executive Officer of security vendor Infidel, said: it is obvious that traditional anti-virus software will not work normally, which is largely due to hardware restrictions on handheld devices, such as lower CPU frequency, smaller memory and storage space. She said that's why cloud computing has been introduced into security.

Bace said, "the market needs such a service to meet the needs of consumers and use the network provided by service providers for normal operations. After we sign the agreement with Verizon, we expect them to securely process all our data."

Pescatore has a similar view that the core of security in the future lies in Mobile.

Pescatore said, "In the smart phone world, no anti-virus software is required for every mobile phone user. The key to solving this problem is that the carrier is responsible for filtering and ensuring security, when the data arrives at the terminal, it is ensured to be secure."

Thompson, president of the RSA conference and founder of People Security, believes that it is clear that anti-virus software is now trying to solve the problem of migrating to the mobile field.

He said, "The new challenge facing the anti-virus industry is to provide users with better security protection under new devices and platforms, and how to use the cloud at the same time, what is anti-virus software on the cloud. These three questions will be discussed in the anti-virus software industry in the next two or three years ."

The lagging behind in the mobile phone chip market may be the most important reason why intel acquired McAfee, Thompson said, "After intel acquired McAfee, they can coordinate with each other, for example, releasing a semiconductor product with built-in anti-virus software principles, such as CPU and chipset, is approaching us."

In general, a very important fact people face today is that people do not have the awareness of the importance and danger of data on the Internet. Many formal Web websites may have some malware, many criminals, such as Facebook and Twitter, are repeatedly using their online friends to send malicious links.

Thompson said that anti-virus should eventually prevent social engineering and malware attacks.

For example, if you receive an email indicating that you met you online several months ago, you have mutual friends, and then they will send you a link, of course it is malicious.

Thompson believes that "in the future, Anti-Virus products will analyze such materials, and some legal people will appear on the Internet, but they are engaged in illegal work. The consequences of these threats are very serious. Many people say that anti-virus software has only a few years of service life, but now it seems that this is far from the case. This statement has been greatly exaggerated ."