Studies estimated 10.8 million malware attacks happened on IoT devices alone, in October 2020. Imagine the attack surface of such a complex system, with all our internet-connected devices, each with their dozens of apps, constantly exchanging information over the public internet. Your smartphone can run Android, for instance, and tens, if not hundreds of apps on the back of that. After all, each of these devices runs its own operating system and has multiple apps running on top of it, multiplying the entry points. Today, smartphones, smart wearables, smart TVs, and a variety of IoT devices intersect our lives, and each can make us vulnerable to cyber attacks. You’re no longer tasked with protecting only a handful of devices as you did not long ago. Today, those entry points have grown at an alarming rate. In cybersecurity speak, the attack surface of a device quantifies all potential entry points for a malicious entity to gain access to a system. Yes, the attack surface has never been larger or in more need of a multi-pronged defense. These tools use machine learning to identify dodgy behavior and pair it with traditional malware detection to achieve unprecedented protection levels. The advent of Next-Generation Antivirus (NGAV) software is a breakthrough for the cybersecurity industry. A modern antivirus, like, say, PIA’s antivirus, looks for broader threats, flagging suspicious behavior which can indicate insidious activities that would otherwise remain hidden. Viruses aren’t the only bad guys out there, with code exploits, adware, ransomware, and password breaches strengthening their hold on the threat landscape.Īntivirus software increasingly evolved to offer 360° protection from these diverse threat actors. Today, antivirus programs guard against a whole lot more. The antivirus started as the basic, essential security program scanning files and folders on a computer, looking for typical virus signatures. But the definition has evolved over the years. PIA Antivirus – Your Privacy Still Comes FirstĪn antivirus is a program that scans your system for threats - both known and unknown. Table of Contents What’s an Antivirus and What Does It Do? Let’s take a deeper dive to understand why antivirus software is as relevant as ever, and what you can do to protect your systems and devices in an increasingly internet-connected world. Even so, all OS platforms are vulnerable to phishing and zero-day exploits, which makes anti-malware tools an essential line of defense on any system. Also, in an open-source environment like Linux, viruses are rare. It’s important to remember macOS and iOS are more secure than Windows without any third-party malware protection. So… Do you need an antivirus? While you can’t generalize for all operating systems, as each system is engineered differently and has a different security profile, almost all benefit from an antivirus program, whether built in or third-party. The AV-TEST Institute, a leading IT security firm, identifies a whopping 450,000 new malware and PUAs (Potentially Unwanted Applications) popping up every single day. You’ve probably heard “those in the know” say you don’t need an antivirus anymore, that your yearly McAfee subscription, paid diligently since 1999, is little more than a scam.Īs frightening as that prospect is, cybercrime statistics paint a different picture.
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