What is Antivirus?
Antivirus software is the program or set of programs designed to prevent, detect and remove software viruses and other malicious software. It scans all forms of data including web pages, applications, and files that travel over the network to your corporate and personal devices. Antivirus protection is essential, considering the pervasiveness of cyber threats. Without antivirus software installed, you put yourself at risk of picking up a virus or being susceptible to targeting by other malware. It’s important to stay on top of the current antivirus solutions, as cyber threats and viruses are constantly evolving.
Next-Gen Antivirus
Next-Generation Antivirus (NGAV) refers to the new breed of software that will replace traditional antivirus. It uses a combination of advanced technologies including – but not limited to – artificial intelligence, machine learning, behavioral analytics, and exploit mitigation. Its goal is to protect users from known and unknown threats by anticipating and preventing them before they happen. Since NGAV is a cloud-based approach, it provides visibility into all types of malicious behavior; not just malware.
During this unprecedented time, working remotely has become the new reality for many. Trying to maintain business flow while backing a remote workforce comes with heightened risks. Time and security are more valuable than ever, and next-gen antivirus can help ease the burden.
Why Traditional AV is Being Replaced
Traditional antivirus relies on signature file- or definition-based threats; a system that is quickly becoming obsolete. Its inability to detect modern threats that do not introduce new files to the system makes traditional AV virtually useless. NGAV has the power to protect against file-less threats, which are rising among attackers, by leveraging its sophisticated prevention methods.
The average deployment takes up to three months with traditional AV. This is because most traditional AV requires hardware to be installed on site, along with some degree of tuning and configuration to be fully functional. With NGAV cloud capabilities, time-to-value increases dramatically, and deploying can take just a few hours to implement. Taking endpoint security to the cloud guarantees a proactive, rather than reactive, approach to help outsmart the most threatening emerging attacks.
Assessing NGAV Solutions
Here are a few criteria to consider when choosing the best NGAV product for your organization:
1. Level of False Positives
With traditional AV, the proportion of false positives tends to be relatively low since it is designed to rely on previously-defined malware using a set of indicators such as IPs, signatures, URLs, and domains. NGAV attempts to identify never-before-seen threats and protects against them. Due to the high level of uncertainty, this process tends to return a greater proportion of false positives.
2. Response to New Malware
Despite the risk of returning false positives, the mission of NGAV is to go a step beyond traditional AV and be able to identify novel malware, as well as combat it. When evaluating potential solutions, it’s important to test the competency of its technologies by pitting them against a set of advanced threats.
3. Protection against Ransomware
Ransomware is harder to detect because it behaves differently than most types of malware. Also, ransomware can encrypt data at alarming rates and make their presence known. It is critical for an NGAV solution to have the proper arsenal necessary in order to detect and remove new ransomware strains.
Leading Options for Next-Gen Antivirus
Now that we’ve identified some important points to keep in mind, here’s a list of noteworthy NGAV solutions that should be on your radar:
Carbon Black
Carbon Black is a Massachusetts-based vendor with over 5,600 global customers, including approximately one-third of the Fortune 100. They have been a leader in endpoint security for years, continuing to transform cybersecurity with a cloud-based endpoint protection platform (EPP) known as VMware Carbon Black Cloud™.
Cybereason Total Enterprise Protection
Cybereason, also a Massachusetts-based vendor founded in 2012, has stopped the world’s most advanced cyber attacks with its unmatched technology. The Cybereason Defense platform boasts real-time protection, intuitive investigation and remediation, as well as fileless and ransomware prevention.
FireEye Endpoint Security
FireEye is a California-based cybersecurity company which offers world-class solutions built with frontline expertise. In late 2018, FireEye was recognized for achieving the highest rate among NGAV vendors with zero false positives. FireEye participates in independent, third-party testing to demonstrate full transparency in endpoint security.
CrowdStrike Falcon Insight
Crowdstrike, another California-based company, is the pioneer of cloud-delivered endpoint protection. They are the first and only solution to unify next-generation antivirus, endpoint detection and response (EDR), and a 24/7 threat hunting service. Crowdstrike delivers everything you need to stop breaches via a single, streamlined agent.
SentinelOne
“Defeating Every Attack. Every Second. Every Day.” That is the promise of California-based SentinelOne, founded in 2014. Its autonomous AI platform prevents, detects, responds, and hunts in the context of all enterprise assets. SentinelOne was ranked the seventh fastest growing company in North America on Deloitte’s 2019 Technology Fast 500™.
Morphisec
Morphisec, an Israeli-based software company, only entered the U.S. market in 2016 but has proven to be a worthy competitor. Its Moving Target Defense strategy is changing the paradigm of endpoint security, providing far more powerful and resilient prevention than ever before.
Value of an IT Company for NGAV Integration
There’s no question that businesses are faced with the threat of aggressive, ever-changing cyberattacks on a daily basis. There is no worse feeling than having your endpoints compromised, especially with company-sensitive information traveling over the network. Mindcore offers a variety of cybersecurity services in order to keep your company from falling victim to online threats.
At Mindcore, we know that no two companies are alike. We don’t provide one-size-fits-all solutions; instead we assess your current system and create an individualized plan of action that works for you. Our goal is to help make lasting, sustainable improvements for your company, with ongoing support and monitoring as needed. Contact us today for more information about how our IT specialists can lead your business into the future.
