Computer viruses are almost as old as the computer itself with the first-ever virus created in 1971 called the “Creeper system”. It was a self-replicating virus that could fill up the hard drive of any computer and make it impossible to use. As years passed technology moved forward but so did malicious software. Up until recently, the only way to detect malicious software on your computer was by using a signature-based antivirus protection software. With advancements in artificial intelligence, we can now safely say that signature-based protection is a thing of the past, just like the “Creeper system”. We have entered the age of Next-Gen antivirus endpoint security, which is completely autonomous and powered by AI.

Legacy vs Endpoint Protection

Traditional Antivirus (AV) solutions relied on signature-based protection. This means that the AV relied on having access to a large database of malicious files, unsafe websites, and so on. This would require the end-user to constantly update their antivirus solution, make sure that the software is constantly getting new information from the servers, and hope that the database their AV product relies on is keeping up with the progress of malicious attacks. This approach causes a lot of issues; keeping the database up to date is almost impossible due to innovative ways threat actors use to infiltrate machines and even entire networks. As A.I. progresses through the years, it is emerging as the logical solution to this problem.

Next-Gen antivirus endpoint protection uses a completely different approach. Rather than checking hashes in files or comparing signatures to a huge database, they analyze the behavior of these files to determine their intention as malicious or benign. By following a strict set of rules, next-gen endpoint protection software can operate completely autonomously and only inform the end-user when their attention is needed. If, for example, a new file that you just downloaded started tampering with other files on your computer or started dropping suspicious scripts, the next-gen endpoint protection will prevent these actions from happening while at the same time inform you that something is going on.

How to Identify Effective Antivirus Endpoint Protection

There are three simple ways to determine if an endpoint protection software solution is worth your time and money.

1. Performance of Intended Function

Does the technology consistently deliver on security and consistently detecting threats that are thrown at it? Additionally, is it overly zealous and inhibiting access to legitimate files as well?

2. Inherent Persistence

Is it able to prevent attackers from bypassing its security functions? Can it anticipate new forms of attack and block these too?

3. Flexibility

Is it easy to integrate with other security applications, systems, and platforms? And will it be capable of evolving and accommodating to new environments and tools?

Apart from these three key questions, it is also very important to make sure that your next-gen antivirus endpoint protection either offers or easily integrates with the other features that often come packaged into a traditional anti-virus solution. These include the following:

• Firewall
• Antivirus solution
• Internet Security
• Encryption
• Device Firewalls
• Mobile Device Management
• Mobile Security Solutions
• Intrusion Detection Techniques
• Application Controls

With the threat landscape constantly changing and evolving, it is of the utmost importance that you make sure you are getting the very best protection for your organization.

Antivirus Endpoint Protection: Applying Next-Generation AI and Deep learning

We can consider next-gen antivirus endpoint security as a logical evolutionary step in the cyber-security world. Keeping up with all the different, new, malware out there has become impossible. New malicious threats are being developed on a daily basis and it is clear that traditional antivirus software is incapable of keeping up with this pace. With the help of artificial intelligence and deep learning software, it is easy to predict if a file or a website you visited can cause harm to your data. If a threat is identified based on its behavior, a timely warning is issued while the threat is immediately disabled. This gives end-users peace of mind, especially if they spend most of their day online where we can all become victims of cyber-attacks in a matter of seconds.