How Long Must You Wait for an Anti-Virus Fix?

[bigc73542]

Link to story: http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/col...le.php/3316511

How Long Must You Wait for an Anti-Virus Fix?

February 23, 2004
By Brian Livingston

Imagine that your office building was on fire, and you called the fire department, only to be told, "Please wait there while we invent a new method to fight the kind of fire you have."

You'd be furious! You'd expect the firefighters to rush to your building immediately, ready to fight whatever kind of fire they found.

Unfortunately, anti-virus services are forced into a scenario that no firefighter would accept: "We have to invent new defenses every day." Anti-virus software can predict and prevent some never-before-seen viruses. But all too often, a new virus...

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[beetlejuice]

Thank you for this very interesting post to mul over. I've always kind of wondered what kind of lag time there was between a virus being discovered and a cure coming out. I know that when a new virus appears, the code must be analyzed and a fix engineered. Was there any mention as to whether all of this is done manually? I would think that having a computer do it (analyze and engineer a cure) would cut the lag time down conciderably, maybe to almost nothing. Of course, with a new and unknown virus this probably couldn't be done. Maybe someday.
You've given all of us something to think about. I must say that I'm not too happy with my AV's preformance as far as lag time is concerned. Definate changes might be in order.
Thanks again for this information. A cookie for you.

[bigc73542]

From what I have read the new defs are reverse engineered by hand It is a wonder they get out as fast as they do.. My panda updates between six and thirty five def a day. That seems like a little work involved.