Malware Variants Explosion Make Antivirus Programs Inadequate & Ineffective

According to the news published in Emirates Business24/7 on November 19, 2009, given the growth of Internet threats and an overabundant supply of exclusive malware variants during 2009, antivirus solutions don't seem to be enough for protecting enterprises.

According to the "Predictions for 2010" by online security firm 'Symantec,' there is a realization among industry players that conventional antivirus solutions (based on file signatures as well as behavioral/heuristic abilities) aren't sufficient to safeguard from modern threats.

The company also said, certain expected security trends for 2010 point to the fact that anti-viruses will be overwhelmed. Social engineering tactics will play a key role in these expected attacks. Rather than targeting operating systems or system devices, attackers will aim users directly and deceive them by meeting all their demands.

According to Symantec, the Conficker virus, which is a highly-prevalent malware globally, in fact attained its status to some extent on account of certain large antivirus companies' underplaying of the worm's continuity.

At the conference on security forecast for 2010, Orla Cox, Symantec's Senior Manager, acknowledged that the extremely fast propagation of Conficker had found the company off guard. According to her, researchers at Symantec knew that a malware item could potentially exploit the vulnerability, but they thought that people probably knew what to do on the basis of past experiences, as reported by Mxlogic on November 17, 2009.

Moreover, Symantec stated that during 2010, consumers might witness the perpetrators of scareware (or fake security software) move up to a higher level to compromise people's PCs, make their systems inoperable, and then demand money to liberate them. Additionally, a not so severe next move might be software which isn't overtly malicious, but deceptive to the maximum.

Symantec also states that a point has been reached where the creation of new malware is greater than that of quality or good software. Apparently, a point has also been attained where it's no longer sensible to concentrate only on investigating malicious programs. Rather, security approaches which seek for methods to encompass all reputation-based security would be foremost during 2010.

Related article: Malware Authors Turn More Insidious

» SPAMfighter News - 11/30/2009