ParetoLogic Launches the Latest in Anti-Virus Technology

According to a recent report from SecureList, viruses and other malware attempted to execute over 540 million infections globally in the second quarter of 2010. To protect their users from these malcious threats, ParetoLogic has launched latest defence against viruses, spyware, adware, and other malicious software. ParetoLogic Anti-Virus PLUS version 7 offers enhanced threat detection and removal and adds new features to improve the user’s experience. As well as redesigning the interface, developers also dramatically improved scan times and system resource footprint.
Version 7 of ParetoLogic Anti-Virus PLUS has two significant technological advances. The first one delivers enhanced rootkit removal. Rootkits act as “burrowing” malware, and entrench themselves so deep in a users system that they are some of the most difficult to remove.
“ParetoLogic Anti-Virus PLUS now gives users state-of-the-art protection against these dangerous potential threats,” said Elton Pereira, Cofounder, President and CEO of ParetoLogic. “We know that infections are on the rise, and paired with heuristic detection, our software will keep people safer than ever.”
So-called heuristic detection is the most recent development in security software, and the second of ParetoLogic Anti-Virus PLUS 7’s advances. Rather than relying on a database of found and catalogued malware samples, heuristic detection is behavioral based.
There are a large number of different types of malware, but their actual goals and methods of operation all follow a similar pattern,” explained Jean Taggart, Security Analyst at ParetoLogic. “Heuristic detection is able to recognize a suspicious file or process, even if that specific piece of malware was never programmatically analyzed, or examined by a malware researcher. This is achieved by looking at behaviour, or common traits.”
The ParetoLogic Anti-Virus PLUS update also adds Windows 7 support and a sleek interface to match the popular new operating system. Additional software improvements resulted in shorter scan times, and a lighter system footprint. These upgrades allow users to scan their system without slowing down their other applications or tasks.

Antivirus isn't dead--it's growing up

We’ve been hearing it for years: antivirus software is dead. But is it true? If so, it seems to have more lives than Richard Nixon.
Rather than being the industry’s swan song, mobile devices could be its redemption opportunity.
The antivirus industry is in major transition as threats have evolved from being just the viruses and worms written to exploit holes in Windows that plagued computers in the 1990s to the exploits that target vulnerabilities in Web applications and end user gullibility today.
Many consumers fork over at least $40 for Norton AntiVirus or something similar, many more are turning to free antivirus from AVG or Avast, and yet millions of computers are still getting hit with infections daily.
While no antivirus software is perfect, the perception that AV often isn’t doing a good enough job is backed by studies. Recent benchmark tests pegged the average detection rate among major antivirus products at about 75 percent. (In one test, three out of 10 products stopped all of the original exploits, but the vendors are not named. However, the tests are to be taken with a grain of salt given the variances in testing standards.)
Antispyware and antispam have become standard in most AV, or antimalware, products as vendors have expanded their software into endpoint protection suites. And many have begun placing as much emphasis on heuristic technologies that look at the behavior or reputation of a piece of software as well as matching it to a database of malware signatures. But malware writers are adept at testing their code against the antivirus software and tweaking it until it passes through undetected.
As an alternative, some people are turning to whitelisting technologies that allow only approved programs to run on a computer. Whitelisting is akin to the closed environment of the iPhone where Apple vets every app and is largely effective in protecting the devices, said Gartner analyst John Pescatore.