Anti-virus software is a sub category of a larger group of software known as malware. Malware is basically any hostile or intrusive software, including spyware, ransomware or viruses. Anti-Malware software is a necessity for any computer system but is really just one layer of a completely protected system. Unfortunately Anti-Malware manufacturers are almost always behind the curve because the whole business depends on someone taking advantage of a vulnerability. So although we must have it, it really only works for known exploits. The other problem with most end point Anti-Malware solutions, is that they are designed to be unobtrusive to the user by working in the background and only notifying the user when something goes wrong. This works great unless the virus is designed to quietly shut down the Anti-Malware software. Once that happens, the exploit is able to move at will and the user is never notified. Also, because of the ever changing range of exploits, Anti-Malware software needs regular updates to the program itself as well as the database of known exploits. Without updates, the protection is only effective back to the last update.
With our Managed Services Anti-Malware solution, we get notified if your Anti-Malware goes down for any reason. We can automatically start it again and investigate what is going on. We also provide updates to Anti-Malware several times a day. If the program gets too outdated, we’re notified and take action.
Anti-Malware is really a last ditch effort to protect you. Most major security breeches are a result of a user opening an email attachment or downloading a file that contains a virus. End user training is critical and can be provided upon request.