Anti-Malware Software

In short: Anti-malware software detects, blocks and removes malicious programs such as viruses, trojans and ransomware.

In more detail: It is the successor of the classic “virus scanner” and today covers all kinds of malware.

In Depth

Detection methods

• Signatures: known patterns.
• Heuristics: suspicious features.
• Behaviour: conspicuous actions at runtime.
• Cloud: matching against reputation data.

In companies

EDR/XDR solutions monitor endpoints continuously and allow remote response.

Limits

No protection against everything: zero-days and social engineering are often not detected. Examples: Windows Defender, Kaspersky.

See also: Windows Defender, Kaspersky, Malware, Malicious Software