Antivirus software

antivirus software: consists of history, identification methods, popular anti viruses in the market, pros and issues of it.

Extremely basic ppt- can be used for college presentations & competitions- doesnt have enough info to be the winner, but certainly useful. :)

1. A SEMINAR ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE

2. INTRODUCTION Antivirus software is defined as a software used to prevent, detect and remove all sorts of malware such as computer viruses, hijackers, Trojan horses, etc.

3. HISTORY Most of the viruses in early and mid 1980’s had limited self-reproduction and spread initially by storage devices such as floppy disks, before internet connection was wide spread. The first anti-virus introduced was Flushshot plus and Anti4us in 1987. John McAfee and Eugene Kaspersky found their own antivirus software and later setup their companies in 1988.

4. IDENTIFICATION METHODS There are various methods used by antivirus software to identify malware: Signature based tools : Most commonly used method to identify viruses and other malware, antivirus software compares the contents of a file to a directory of virus signatures. The entire file is searched both as whole as well as in pieces. They are considered very basic and insufficient to be counter today’s malware practices.

5. IDENTIFICATION METHODS Heuristics : It is the most required detection method present in antivirus software. Heuristic is a technique designed for solving a problem more quickly when classic methods are too slow or fail. Some anti-viruses are difficult to detect as they start of as a single infection and later change into many variants. Heuristics is a method invented to counter them.

6. IDENTIFICATION METHODS Root kit detection : Root kit is one of the dangerous malware designed to gain administration-level control over the computer without detection. They change the way operating systems function and tamper the antivirus software, leaving it ineffective. The latest antivirus software are being added with root kit detection.

7. IDENTIFICATION METHODS Real-time protection : Background guard, Auto-protect , Risky-website testing, etc are some other antivirus protection provided by antivirus software.

8. POPULAR ANTIVIRUSES Kaspersky Lab McAfee Virus Scan Avira Antivirus Software Avast! Antivirus Software AVG Antivirus and Internet Security Norton Antivirus Software Panda Antivirus Software

9. PROS OF ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE Protection from Malware. Protection from Spyware and Identity Theft. Protection from Spam. Protects Important Documents. Provides legal implication.

10. ISSUES OF ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE Unexpected renewal costs : Some commercial antivirus software end-user license agreements include a clause that the subscription will be automatically renewed, and the purchaser’s credit card automatically billed, at the renewal time without explicit approval. For e.g., McAfee requires users to unsubscribe at least 60 days before the expiration of the present subscription.

11. ISSUES OF ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE Rouge security applications : Some apparent antivirus programs are actually malware masquerading as legitimate software, such as WinFixer, MS Antivirus, and Mac Defender.

12. ISSUES OF ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE Problems caused by false positives : A “false positive” is when antivirus software identifies a non-malicious file as virus. It can cause serious problems. For e.g., if an antivirus program is configured to immediately delete or quarantine infected files, a false positive in an essential file can render an OS or some applications useless.

13. ISSUES OF ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE System and interoperability related issues : Running multiple antivirus programs concurrently can degrade performance and create conflicts. However, using a concept called multi-scanning, several companies (including G Data and Microsoft) have created applications which can multiple engines concurrently.

14. ISSUES OF ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE Effectiveness : The effectiveness of antivirus software has decreased. Detection rates for threats had dropped from 40-50% in 2006 to 20-30% in 2007. The problem is magnified by changing intent of the authors.

15. ISSUES OF ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE New viruses: Anti-virus programs are not always effective against new viruses. Even those that use non-signature-based methods that should detect viruses.

16. ISSUES OF ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE Root-kits: Root-kits have full administrative access to the computer and are invisible to users and are hidden from running processes in the task manager. Root-kits can modify the inner workings of an operating system and tamper with anti-virus programs.

17. ISSUES OF ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE Damaged files : Files which have been damaged by computer viruses are normally damaged beyond recovery. Antivirus software removes the virus code from the file during disinfection, but this does not always restore the file in undamaged state.

18. ISSUES OF ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE Firmware Issues : Active antivirus software can interfere with a firmware update process. Any writable firmware in the computer can be infected with a malicious code.

19. CONCLUSION Anti-virus software is very useful to day-to-day users to protect their storage devices and computers from malware. There is much antivirus software available in the market with it’s own pros and cons. The antivirus software has many issues that need to be dealt with. Other than antivirus software, there are many other methods available to protect devices such as network firewall, specialist tools, etc.

20. REFERENCES Antivirus Software, Wikipedia. Comparison of Antivirus Software, Wikipedia. The Art of Computer Virus Research and Defense, Peter Szor.

21. THANK YOU