In order to detect and eliminate new viruses, antivirus solutions usually take a reactive approach: they wait for it to appear, infecting its first computers and then they are updated to combat it as soon as possible.  Until now, antivirus protection responded quickly enough to head off new viruses before they could spread widely. For example, Panda's antivirus solutions are updated automatically via the Internet, at least once a day.

However, new viruses and intruders have recently emerged with the capacity to infect thousands of computers in a few hours, before antivirus protection can be updated to combat them. Sasser, Netsky, Mydoom or Sobig are good examples of these new generation viruses, which use new means of propagation and exploit vulnerabilities in operating systems and the most widely used software.

The evolution of virus propagation techniques

Even if you have antivirus protection installed, your computer could be temporarily vulnerable to these new threats, as they spread almost instantly, faster than the time it takes to develop the vaccines to eliminate them and update the antivirus protection.

Evolution of a virus epidemic

To ensure that you are not left vulnerable for even a second, you need to increase the protection of your computer, pre-empting the actions of unknown viruses. The new TruPrevent Technologies effectively detect and block unknown viruses and intruders, even before your antivirus has been updated to combat them.

Current antivirus solutions are very effective and absolutely vital for detecting and eliminating known viruses. But they have a weak spot: they need to wait for virus to appear in order to delete it, and therefore cannot protect you against viruses that are not registered in its virus database.

TruPrevent Technologies cover this additional security need, protecting computers from both unknown viruses and intruders. These new preventive technologies neither replace nor conflict with ‘traditional' reactive technologies used by antivirus solutions. On the contrary, they complement one another to reinforce the security of your computer.

On the one hand, the antivirus resident provides a first layer of protection: scanning all the files and programs entering or leaving the computer and rapidly and systematically detecting and eliminating all known viruses hidden in them. For this reason, Panda's antivirus solutions are automatically updated against the new viruses that emerge, at least once a day.

Preventive protection strategy

TruPrevent Technologies complement the antivirus protection by providing a second layer of protection, analyzing the behavior of all the programs the resident has let through and blocking those that carry out damaging actions and are unknown viruses.

By doing this, all processes are optimized. The antivirus resident filters known viruses and the TruPrevent Technologies focus on analyzing the behavior of the rest of the programs.

TruPrevent Technologies also neutralize viruses such as Sasser, Blaster or Code Red, capable of spreading across the Internet without needing to hide in e-mail messages or attached files and slipping past traditional antivirus technologies.

How do TruPrevent Technologies detect unknown viruses?

TruPrevent Technologies detect unknown viruses and intruders by analyzing the behavior or activities of the programs that are running on the computer.

By checking which programs are carrying out potentially dangerous actions, TruPrevent Technologies can identify unknown viruses and block their actions.

This process is completely reliable and doesn’t generate false alarms, degrade system performance or slow down the processes that are running.

To sum up, TruPrevent Technologies work like a good detective, capable of identifying delinquents by observing their behavior, even if they don’t have a criminal record, and discreetly detaining them.

This strategy, based on behavioral analysis, is what makes TruPrevent Technologies intelligent. They represent a leap forward compared to current reactive technologies or other existing technologies, such as heuristic.

Through our Beta Program, we have confirmed that TruPrevent Technologies were able to discover Sobig, MyDoom or Netsky on computers, even before the antivirus had been updated to combat them.