The Current State of the Malware/AntiVirus Arms Race

An anonymous reader writes "An article at Net Security explores how malware has developed self-defense techniques. This evolution is the result of the double-edged sword of the malware arms race. Anti-virus technology is ever more advanced, but as a result surviving viruses are increasingly sophisticated. What Net Security offers is a lengthy look at the current state of that arms race. 'There are many different kinds of malware self-defense techniques and these can be classified in a variety of ways. Some of these technologies are meant to bypass antivirus signature databases, while others are meant to hinder analysis of the malicious code. One malicious program may attempt to conceal itself in the system, while another will not waste valuable processor resources on this, choosing instead to search for and counter specific types of antivirus protection. These different tactics can be classified in different ways and put into various categories.'"

Comments

Re:Viruses will never go away

[freedom_india]

Actually i had a bad experience yesterday just a clean install of XP with all updates.
I had installed Avast, Spyware blaster, XP firewall (enough as my prior experience with kerio led to a reinstall).
I paused avast ondemand scanner to rip a DVD. XP prompted me and i just dismissed it.
Then after 1 hour i forgot to resume avast, and connected to net.
Somehow i got infected even though used opera.
Avast full scan picked it, but could not completely wipe it.
An update and a call later i was able to remove it.
It was a pain