History of Antivirus Software & Its Origin

 History of

Antivirus Software & Its Origin

HISTORY

The antivirus born as a simple tool whose purpose was to detect and remove computer viruses, during the late 1980s. Over time, the emergence of   more advanced operating systems on the  internet , antivirus have evolved into   more advanced programs that not only seek to detect a  computer virus , but also block it to prevent an infection by them, as well as are currently capable of recognize other types of  malware , such as  spyware ,  rootkits , etc.

FUNCTIONING OF ANTIVIRUSES

The operation of an antivirus varies from one to another, although its normal behavior is based on having a list of known viruses and their ways of recognizing them (so-called signatures or vaccines), and analyzing against that list the files stored or transmitted from and towards a computer. Additionally, many of today's Antiviruses have incorporated proactive detection functions, which are not based on a list of known malware, but rather analyze the behavior of files or communications to detect which ones are potentially harmful to the computer, with techniques such as Heuristics, HIPS, etc.

Usually, an antivirus has one (or more) memory- resident component   that is responsible for analyzing and verifying all   open, created, modified, executed and transmitted files in  real time , that is, while the computer is in use. They also have a low-demand analysis component (the well-known scanners, explorers, etc.), and e-mail, Internet protection modules, etc. The primary objective of any current antivirus is to detect as many computer threats that can affect a computer and block them before it can infect a computer, or be able to eliminate it after infection.

EVOLUTION

Over time, the Internet has made Antivirus Software evolve into more advanced programs that not only seek to detect computer viruses, but also block them, disinfect them and prevent their infection, and now they are capable of recognizing other types of malware, such as spyware ,root kids, etc.

Each antivirus can plan the defence in one way, that is, an antivirus can do a complete, fast or vulnerability scan according to the user's choice.

It was in 2005 when, after 5 years of sustained trend in which viruses as we knew them were giving way to worms and Trojans in charge of forming botnets to obtain money, when they saw that the entertainment that could involve the creation of Malware could be turned into a very profitable business.

Perhaps the best proof of this are the so-called Banking Trojans of which there are thousands of variants since the creators, to make it difficult to detect, permanently modified their code. This type of malware is currently distributed through exploits, spam, or through other malware downloaded by the banking Trojan. This last type of Trojan is in charge of stealing information related to commercial transactions and / or bank details of the infected user.

Another latent threat related to profit from malware is spyware and adware, where some Antivirus Software companies allow users to use their applications in exchange for creators being able to monitor user activities without their consent.

As for mobile threats, there is no doubt that the arrival of mobile and wireless technologies and their constant evolution have revolutionized the way we communicate and work in recent years. However, the expansion of the use of this technology has also made it an important attack vector for the malware industry.

It was during 2004 that the existence of the first malicious code for mobile platforms was reported: Cabir. A being, together with ComWar.A, the best known, the latter not only for its ability to replicate via Bluetooth but also through text messages with images and sound (MMS), sending themselves to the addresses and phone numbers of their victims. Currently there is malware for the most common platforms, such as Symbian, Pocket PC, Palm, etc., the propagation method being as diverse as the possibilities offered by these technological advances: SMS, MMS, IrDA, Bluetooth, etc.

Today the most attacked platform is Windows on 32-bit processors. As we have mentioned previously, malware creators have seen in this activity an enrichment method and thinking in economic terms and establishing the widest possible target, Windows platform users represent 90% of the market. Perhaps another obstacle that the creators of malware for Linux and Macintosh run into has to do with the medium / high training of users of this type of platform, so that Social Engineering, the main method of propagation at present, is not successful.