Antivirus bouncer

AntiBot is based on technology from Sana Security Inc. It's an additional level of protection. Unlike antivirus software, which relies either completely or at least extensively on fingerprint-like signatures to detect and delete malware, behavioral-based defenses monitor the PC for evidence of hinky conduct. Behavioral tools, sometimes dubbed "heuristic," watch for events such as unexpected writes to the Windows registry, a just-spawned process, or a change to a system file.

Recently, they've come in vogue as the best defense against botnets, which flood mailboxes with an ever-increasing number and variety of Trojan horses and other malware, hoping that by producing tens of thousands of variations they can overwhelm slow-reacting software.

AntiBot isn't Symantec's first foray into heuristics. By slapping "bot" into the product name, Symantec's acknowledging the impact botnets have made on consumer perceptions of current threats, as well as the power of bots. AntiBot can be downloaded from Symantec's site ; the product's Status screen states that it's a day trial, but a Symantec spokeswoman said when that term expires users will be able to extend the test time. The beta will expire for good when the final launches in July.

Here are the latest Insider stories. More Insider Sign Out. Sign In Register. The quaint viruses of yesterday have given rise to an entire rogue's gallery of advanced threats like spyware, rootkits, Trojans, exploits, and ransomware, to name a few. As these new attack categories emerged and evolved beyond early viruses, companies making antivirus for computers continued their mission against these new threats. However, these companies were unsure of how to categorize themselves.

Should they continue to market their products as antivirus software at the risk of sounding reductive? Should they use another "anti-threat" term for marketing themselves like "anti-spyware," for example? Or was it better to take an all-inclusive approach and combine everything in a single product line that addressed all threats? The answers to these questions depend on the company.

At Malwarebytes, cybersecurity is our highest-level catchall category. It makes sense to combine our anti-threat effort into a single term that covers more than just viruses. Viruses are just one kind of malware. There are other forms of malware that are more common these days. Here are just a few:. Adware is unwanted software designed to throw advertisements up on your screen, often within a web browser, but sometimes within mobile apps as well.

Typically, adware disguises itself as legitimate or piggybacks on another program to trick you into installing it on your PC, tablet, or mobile device. Spyware is malware that secretly observes the computer user's activities, including browsing activity, downloads, payment information, and login credentials, and then reports this information to the software's author. Spyware isn't just for cybercriminals. Legitimate companies sometimes use spyware to track employees.

A keylogger , spyware's less sophisticated cousin, is malware that records all the user's keystrokes on the keyboard. This malware typically stores the gathered information and sends it to the attacker seeking sensitive information like usernames, passwords, or credit card details.

A computer virus is malware that attaches to another program and, when triggered, replicates itself by modifying other computer programs and infecting them with its own bits of code. Worms are a type of malware similar to viruses in that they spread, but they don't require user interaction to be triggered. A Trojan , or Trojan Horse, is more of a delivery method for infections than an infection. The Trojan presents itself as something useful to trick users into opening it.

Trojan attacks can carry just about any form of malware, including viruses, spyware, and ransomware. Famously, the Emotet banking Trojan started as an information stealer, targeting banks and large corporations. Later, Emotet operated purely as an infection vector for other forms of malware, usually ransomware.

Ransomware has been called the cybercriminal's weapon of choice, because it demands a profitable quick payment in hard-to-trace cryptocurrency.

A rootkit is malware that provides the attacker with administrator privileges on the infected system and actively hides from the normal computer user. Rootkits also hide from other software on the system—even from the operating system itself. Malicious cryptomining , also sometimes called drive-by mining or cryptojacking , is an increasingly prevalent form of malware or browser-based attack that is delivered through multiple attack methods, including malspam, drive-by downloads, and rogue apps and extensions.

So instead of letting you cash in on your computer's horsepower, the cryptominers send the collected coins into their own account—not yours.

So, essentially, a malicious cryptominer is stealing your device's resources to make money. Exploits are a type of threat that takes advantage of bugs and vulnerabilities in a system in order to allow the exploit's creator to deliver malware. One of the most common exploits is the SQL injection. Malvertising is an attack that uses malicious ads on mostly legitimate websites to deliver malware. You needn't even click on the ad to be affected—the accompanying malware can install itself simply by loading and viewing the page in your browser.

All you have to do is visit a good site on the wrong day. Spoofing occurs when a threat pretends to be something it's not in order to deceive victims to take some sort of action like opening an infected email attachment or entering their username and password on a malicious site spoofed or faked to look like a legitimate site. Phishing is a type of attack aimed at getting your login credentials, credit card numbers, and any other information the attackers find valuable.

Phishing attacks often involve some form of spoofing, usually an email designed to look like it's coming from an individual or organization you trust. Many data breaches start with a phishing attack.

The old school method of signature-based threat detection is effective to a degree, but modern anti-malware also detects threats using newer methods that look for malicious behavior. To put it another way, signature-based detection is a bit like looking for a criminal's fingerprints. It's a great way to identify a threat, but only if you know what their fingerprints look like.

Modern anti-malware takes detection a step further so it can identify threats it has never seen before. By analyzing a program's structure and behavior, it can detect suspicious activity. Keeping with the analogy, it's a bit like noticing that one person always hangs out in the same places as known criminals and has a lock pick in his pocket. This newer, more effective cybersecurity technology is called heuristic analysis. Each time a heuristic anti-malware program scans an executable file , it scrutinizes the program's overall structure, programming logic, and data.

All the while, it looks for things like unusual instructions or junk code. In this way, it assesses the likelihood that the program contains malware. What's more, a big plus for heuristics is its ability to detect malware in files and boot records before the malware has a chance to run and infect your computer. In other words, heuristics-enabled anti-malware is proactive, not reactive.

Some anti-malware products can also run the suspected malware in a sandbox, which is a controlled environment in which the security software can determine whether a program is safe to deploy or not. Running malware in a sandbox lets the anti-malware look at what the software does, the actions it performs, and whether it tries to hide itself or compromise your computer. Another way heuristic analytics helps keep users safe is by analyzing web page characteristics in order to identify risky sites that might contain exploits.

If it recognizes something fishy, it blocks the site. In brief, signature-based anti-malware is like a bouncer at the nightclub door, carrying a thick book of mug shots and booting anyone that matches. Heuristic analysis is the bouncer who looks for suspicious behavior, pats people down, and sends home the ones carrying a weapon.

Two relatively new forms of malware have helped drive the advancement of signature-less detection methods: exploits and ransomware. Though these threats are similar to others in many ways, they can be much harder to detect. Furthermore, once your computer is infected, these threats can be almost impossible to remove. Exploits get their name because they literally exploit vulnerabilities in a system, software, or web browser in order to install malicious code in a variety of ways.

Anti-exploit measures were developed as a shield against this method of attack, protecting against Flash exploits and browser weaknesses, including new exploits that have not been identified or vulnerabilities for which patches have not yet been created.

Ransomware emerged on the malware scene to spectacular effect in Ransomware made a name for itself by hijacking and encrypting computer data, and then extorting payments as it held the data hostage. Originally, both these threats resulted in the development of dedicated anti-exploit and anti-ransomware products.

In December , Malwarebytes folded anti-exploit and malicious website antivirus protection into the premium version of Malwarebytes for Windows. We have since added anti-ransomware for even more advanced anti-malware protection.

Artificial intelligence AI and machine learning ML are the latest stars in the top antivirus and anti-malware technology. AI allows machines to perform tasks for which they are not specifically pre-programmed.

AI does not blindly execute a limited set of commands. ML is programming that's capable of recognizing patterns in new data, then classifying the data in ways that teach the machine how to learn. Put another way, AI focuses on building smart machines, while ML uses algorithms that allow the machines to learn from experience.

Both these technologies are a perfect fit for cybersecurity, especially since the number and variety of threats coming in every day are too overwhelming for signature-based methods or other manual measures. Both AI and ML are still in developmental phases, but they hold immense promise. In fact, at Malwarebytes, we already use a machine-learning component that detects malware that's never been seen before in the wild, also known as zero-days or zero-hours.

Other components of our software perform behavior-based, heuristic detections—meaning they may not recognize a particular code as malicious, but they have determined that a file or website is acting in a way that it shouldn't. In the case of business IT professionals with multiple endpoints to secure, the heuristic approach is especially important. We never know the next big malware threat, so heuristics play an important role in Malwarebytes Endpoint Protection , as does AI and ML.

Together, they create multiple layers of antivirus protection that address all stages of the attack chain for both known and unknown threats. From desktops and laptops to tablets and smartphones, all our devices are vulnerable to malware.

Given a choice, who wouldn't want to prevent an infection instead of dealing with the aftermath? The best antivirus software alone is not up to the task, as evidenced by the regular stream of newspaper headlines reporting yet another successful cyberattack. So, what should you do to stay safe? What kind of cybersecurity software — antivirus software or anti-malware software — should one choose to address a threat landscape that consists of legacy viruses and emerging malware?

What is the best antivirus program for you? What's needed is an advanced cybersecurity program that is flexible and smart enough to anticipate today's increasingly sophisticated threats. Malwarebytes for Windows fulfils this need for advanced antivirus security along with Malwarebytes for Mac , Malwarebytes for Android , and Malwarebytes business solutions.

Malwarebytes offers one of the best antivirus programs to protect computers against malware, hacks , viruses, ransomware, and other ever-evolving threats to help support a safe online antivirus experience.

Our AI-enhanced, heuristics-based technology blocks threats that a traditional computer antivirus isn't smart enough to stop. For an additional layer of antivirus protection, consider Malwarebytes Browser Guard. It's the browser extension that stops annoying ads and trackers. Plus, it's the world's first browser extension that blocks tech support scams. Industry watchers have cited Malwarebytes for Windows for its role in a layered antivirus protection approach, providing one of the best antivirus programs without degrading system performance.

It removes all traces of malware, blocks the latest threats, and is a fast virus scanner. Regardless of the cybersecurity software you choose your first line of defense is education. Stay up to date on the latest online threats and antivirus protection by making the Malwarebytes Labs blog a regular read.

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