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Antivirus

Antivirus software protects businesses from data breaches caused by malware like viruses, worms, trojan horses, ransomware, spyware, adware and more. It’s a critical piece of cybersecurity protection for every business, small or large. Antivirus detects, prevents and eliminates threats in real-time, protecting computers, laptops and mobile devices, as well as networks and external storage like hard drives.

Modern antivirus software combines multiple layers of protection to keep you safe from known and unknown threats. They use a combination of signature scanning, heuristics and behavior-based detection to detect, analyze and eliminate malware before it can do damage.

Signature scanning compares files against a database of known malicious code to identify and flag any suspicious files for further examination. Heuristics analysis looks for characteristics shared by new and emerging malware to identify polymorphic variants that would be missed by signature scanning alone. Finally, behavior-based detection examines how a file functions to spot telltale signs of malicious activity, like encryption or disabling security tools.

When choosing antivirus software, look for a high virus detection rate and low network system impact, as well as multi-layered protection and configuration control. Also, consider the vendor’s reputation and customer support. Finally, choose a product that can run frequent updates to keep its malware definitions up to date and effective against evolving threats. Many antivirus vendors offer free trial versions that let you test their products before making a purchase decision. Take advantage of these offers, as well as independent test results published by AV-Test and AV-Comparatives.