Survey Finds Signature-Based Anti-Virus Lacking

Signature Based Anti-Virus Test Results – Vendors Struggle to Keep up with Threats

The most popular signature-based antivirus (AV) solutions detect on average less than 19% of malware threats, according to a new report released today by IT security vendor Cyveillance. However, that detection rate increases to 61.7% after 30 days, although even this rate could hardly be seen as comforting.

Cyveillance tested thirteen popular AV solutions to determine their detection rate over a 30 day period and found that popular solutions only detect an average of 18.9% of new malware attacks. By day eight, AV solutions average a 45.7% detection rate. This rises to 56.6% on day 15, 60.3% by day 22, and 61.7% after 30 days. The company argues that a signature-based approach is limited because of the “catch-up” period between the time new malware code is released and the time it is identified as such.

“It [is] critical for enterprises to take a more proactive approach to online security in order to minimize the potential for infection,” said Panos Anastassiadis, COO of Cyveillance. “To increase protection, users can’t forget the basics – avoid unknown or disreputable websites, increase security settings on their web browser and leverage supplemental malware block lists to increase security on their devices.”