How Does Antivirus Work?
Antivirus is software that helps prevent, scan for, detect and eradicate malware (malicious software) like viruses from singular computing devices or entire IT systems. It typically works by analyzing files, programs and applications in order to parse out malware that may be lurking within. Antivirus also typically monitors day-to-day program behavior and flags anything that is out of the ordinary; it will then either quarantine or remove it from the device.
Aside from catching viruses, antivirus often also offers additional safety features such as customizable firewalls and website blocking. It can also protect the device from threats coming from external devices like USB sticks and hard drives. Lastly, it can detect spyware which is malware that spies on the user, steals data and generates unwanted ads.
The key question when choosing an antivirus is whether or not it’s able to stop the latest strains of malware in the wild. To gauge this, IT professionals can look at the software’s detection rate in controlled tests.
Aside from traditional signature detection, modern antivirus software also employs heuristic analysis in order to catch new and altered variants of viruses and malware. This is done by comparing the code of an application or file to existing databases of malware and if it matches or sounds similar, it will be flagged as potentially harmful. Some advanced AV programs even use sandboxing where they execute suspicious files in a virtual environment so that they can determine if any malicious behavior is taking place.