How did Antivirus Software Came into Existence

 

How did Antivirus Software Came into Existence

 

Information is part of the assets of a company and must be protected. In this installment we will talk about antivirus, its evolution and its main characteristics, and which we should choose in our business to feel as safe as possible.

And why “as safe as possible” Am I never going to be totally sure of being protected? No, unfortunately the answer is no. The protection of computers is a competition between two sides: those who try to use our computers to do harm and those who try to defend us. Unfortunately for us, those who protect us are almost always one step behind those who try to harm us. Although antivirus companies have their research department to develop a cure before someone realizes that the vulnerability exists, most of the time they act reactively: raised the difficulty, they look for a way to solve it.

Starting at the beginning: What is a virus?

Those who had to name the malicious programs that try to get into our computers used an analogy of something everyone knows: a disease. Diseases transmitted by contact between humans are carried by "viruses", hence the common way of knowing them. Although at first they were ways of making jokes or gaining popularity for having managed to enter some difficult site, later they sought to do even more damage or steal sensitive information.

Evolution of viruses

The first known virus dates from 1987 and was called BRAIN. All it did was modify the index of the hard drive, making the system unusable. The first antivirus software was released in 1988, aimed purely at disinfecting and protecting systems from BRAIN and other similar threats. From here it may get complicated, but I will try to be as clear as possible.

At the beginning, all viruses came directly in an executable file (ending with ".exe") and by double clicking on our desktop we installed it. They came in the form of email attachments with messages like "Pay attention to this" or "Open immediately." They generally came from known senders, appealing to user trust to install new programs on computers. If we did so, it would forward that same email to our entire address book with the same original attachment and thus it was continuously replicated.

Fortunately, it was easy to correct. A small cultural change and this form of infection practically disappeared. At this time almost all of us instinctively repeat the phrase "I should never open files from people I don't know", but even without knowing this Windows has a protection so that no program is installed without the double authorization system. First I have to click on the program to install and then give it administrator authorization to do it.

Additionally, antivirus programs have a constantly changing list that filters potentially dangerous files by name and extension. Modern Antivirus Software also analyzes the lines of code of the programs that we will install and will allow or not allow us to complete the process if they do not find anything suspicious.

Complicating things: worms, polymorphs, and Trojans

As you can imagine and may even have suffered, hackers and generators of malware did not sit still and began looking for more creative ways to infect computers. The "worms" ("worms", as they are known in English) are programs that are installed surreptitiously and do not generate any noticeable change, but if they leave an "open door" for the hacker to have access to our computer or can use it as a springboard to attack other systems. Then came the "polymorphic" versions, which changed as they infected systems, making their filtration or deactivation much more difficult.

And as in the Trojan Horse metaphor, viruses known as "Trojans" are programs that mask another program inside. They arrive in a familiar format, generally from people we know or in programs that have minimal but often imperceptible alterations, and they install two things instead of one when we run them.

There are more types of viruses such as "hijackers", "zombies" and "macro viruses", all with the intention of giving access and control to another person on our team and who can use it as a dissemination or attack tool.

How do we protect ourselves?

There are different types of antivirus, the main difference we could make is that some are free and others are paid. In the case of the free ones, the best known of this time are Avast, Avira, BitDefender and AVG. While they use the same search engine as their paid version, they cut back on functionality and have a lot of trouble detecting new or variable threats (such as polymorphic viruses).

Generally, the changes are made “in cascade”: companies will first update their database of paying customers and then that of free customers, giving priority to those who pay for the service.

To buy or not to buy the Antivirus?

First of all it is good that they know that although a few years ago it was enough to install a single program, today it is necessary to combine three functions: antivirus + anti-spyware (spyware that will send our data and preferences to whoever created it) + anti-Trojans. Then we have to analyze which brand offers us more features or complement it with additional programs.

In the case of a personal computer, where perhaps the most we can lose is program reinstallation time and a few photos from this year's vacation, it usually makes no difference. We must be careful with the pages we visit and emails with links that we do not know, but otherwise we will be well protected.

Very different is the case in our company. Here we not only have to protect business continuity and avoid unnecessary reinstallations and failures, but information is important and we must keep it as secure as possible. As we already said, you have to install several antivirus (one with a paid search engine is suggested) and some complementary programs to complete the missing functions.

In addition, it would be logical to add perimeter security to the network with a firewall ("firewall", as it is known in Spanish). These programs can be installed on our own computers, be part of the antivirus that we hire or directly purchased as additional hardware. Its main function is to filter the traffic that enters and leaves our network, guaranteeing a wide level of effectiveness in the early detection of threats.

As I mentioned earlier, there may be paid versions of antivirus that have a firewall. It is a matter of analyzing the prices and the services offered and making a decision according to the benchmarks (specialized analyzes) that can be found on the internet.

Advantages of having an antivirus

·         We will be almost completely insured against potential threats to our equipment, our network, and our information, which will improve our productivity by eliminating service calls for equipment failures.

·         By protecting our information, that of our company and our customers, we can guarantee that no one can use it to commit illegal acts or scams on our behalf.

·         We will avoid providing our personal data to dangerous pages, which would lead to unwanted electronic purchases and problems with our lines of credit.

Some useful tips and recommendations

·         Antivirus: Always use recognized brands. Evaluate if you are going to install a free or paid antivirus and do a Google search to analyze its performance on computers similar to yours and see if it is necessary to complement it with some other software to close a door that the main program does not close. The main antivirus brands are (in alphabetical order and not personal preference): 360, Avast!, AVG, Avira, BitDefender, Karpesky, Norton and Panda.

·         Anti-spyware: Generally, paid antivirus has this option active, but if it doesn't exist, they must choose a complementary option.

·         Deleting cookies and security: There are programs that delete personal information from our PC that can be used to generate user profiles. The best known is CC Cleaner, and it is recommended to install it.

·         In any case, it is advisable to consult a specialist who will advise you on the best option based on your equipment, its use and the information to be protected.