The Antivirus Hacker's Handbook

Chapter 17Recommendations and the Possible Future

The current protection levels provided by most antivirus solutions are not as good as one would expect from an industry that deals with security products. This chapter discusses some strategies that the security industry may adopt to increase the effectiveness of its products.

This chapter is meant to give you ideas about how to improve the protection and quality of antivirus products. It will also give you some ideas about what you can and cannot expect from an antivirus solution, starting with some ­general recommendations regarding most antivirus products.

Recommendations for Users of Antivirus Products

An antivirus product is synonymous with security for most users, but this is not completely accurate. This part of the chapter explains some typical misunderstandings and also gives recommendations for antivirus software users, especially those who should be most worried about vulnerabilities in security products: big companies and governments. In any case, most of the recommendations here still apply to other users of antivirus products.

Blind Trust Is a Mistake

Blind trust in the security provided by antivirus software is the most common mistake people make. It is no surprise that messages such as “My computer is infected with malware. How can it be? I have antivirus installed!” continue to appear on public forums.

Before putting all your faith into antivirus products, you should consider the following points:

• Antivirus ...