The Pros And Cons Of Behaviour-Based Antivirus Detection

Cybersecurity threats are constantly becoming more advanced, making them easier to fall victim to. According to The Independent, 32% of UK businesses were attacked at least once a week last year. Additionally, the financial expense of those attacks cost around £1,630.

This has become a major cause for concern for businesses. Not only do they have to run operations and co-ordinate teams, but also manage external threats. Most have equipped their staff with antivirus software for their devices to combat these attempts.

However, one of the biggest limitations of these traditional signature-based detection devices that focus on identifying existing malware is its inability to recognise all new threats.

This is why many of the newer antivirus solutions have implemented behaviour-based detection systems. These systems evaluate how the programs work in real time, as opposed to depending solely on the presence of malware signatures. Let’s take a look at how it works, how you could benefit from using it as well as its shortfalls.

How Does Behaviour-Based Detection Work?

Behaviour-based detection of computer viruses, also sometimes known as dynamic analysis, observes the live usage patterns of apps and processes on a device in order to see if there is any suspicious activity. This differs from the signature-based softwares which can only focus on the known samples of malware in its database.

Behaviour-based detection looks for certain behavioural patterns, which are synonymous with malicious or harmful programs.

For example, if an app tries to change critical areas of the operating system or attempt to obtain information which it has not been allowed to access, the antivirus will flag it as potentially dangerous.

How Behaviour-Based Detection Can Be Helpful

These antivirus solutions are becoming more popular due to their adaptability and ability to detect more sophisticated threats. Moreover, they can also be combined with traditional signature-based software for extra protection against cyber threats.

It Doesn’t Rely On System Updates

Signature-based antivirus systems constantly need to be updated in order to work effectively. This is because new threats and malware need to added to their database, and updating it will ensure that they can be identified.

However, behaviour-based systems are less dependant on the updates since they don’t work from a database. Although it is still recommended to do the updates, behaviour-based detection is more autonomous and can function effectively between updates.

It Can Work With Signature-Based Detection

It is becoming more common to have a layered approach where behavioural detection and signature detection are incorporated into one antivirus solution.

This way, the detection systems can work together and even if a threat bypasses the traditional signature-based detection, it will be picked up by the behaviour-based system.

It Can Identify More Sophisticated Threats

Signature-based detection can fall short when it comes to identifying advanced threats if they haven’t been added to its database. But because behaviour-based detection looks at the activity itself rather than trying to match it to a threat in the database, it is able to easily identify newer threats.

The Concerns Around Behaviour-Based Detection

While this antivirus solution excels at identifying advanced threats, it doesn’t come without its shortfalls. It has been known to flag apps that are actually authentic, and some privacy concerns have been raised.

It Can Have A False Alarm

Behaviour-based detection systems are more susceptible to the risk of false alerts whereby the legitimately protected software or processes are flagged as at risk because of their actions.

In some cases, some system administration tools may generate a warning since the action could be mistaken for suspicious activity. False positives disrupt valid processes and cause unnecessary panic that interferes with productivity and user satisfaction.

It Can Affect Device Performance

Real-time observation of activities of users and systems requires extensive resources from the device on which the antivirus software is being used. Using it can slow down the device over time and take up a fair amount of storage.

Moreover, it may not work properly on older devices that can’t support its resource requirements. Before using it, you should consider whether or not your device will be able to cope with it.

It Has Privacy Concerns

As behaviour-based detection requires constant observation of a device’s system, it has raised concerns about its invasiveness from some users.

The real-time monitoring means that the detection software is always aware of what you do and look at on your device, which can be unsettling for some people.

Signature Or Behaviour-Based Detection?

Most modern antivirus solutions tend to use a mix of both detection approaches to form a more solid protection strategy. This way, users can benefit from the advantages of both systems.

The behaviour-based system will detect unknown threats while the signature-based system can identify known malware with less chance of flagging false positives.