Anti-Malware Software (Cambridge International IGCSE ICT)

Spec point — 4.2.4

Anti-Malware Software

What is anti-malware software?

• Anti-malware software is a term used to describe a combination of different software to prevent computers from being susceptible to viruses and other malicious software

• The different software anti-malware includes are

  • Anti-virus
  • Anti-spam
  • Anti-spyware

How does anti-malware work?

• Anti-malware scans through email attachments, websites and downloaded files to search for threats

• Anti-malware software has a list of known malware signatures to block immediately if they try to access your device in any way

• Anti-malware will also perform checks for updates to ensure the database of known issues is up to date

• Anti-malware will quarantine infected files

  • Quarantining files allows threats to be automatically deleted
  • Allows the user to determine if the file is a legitimate threat and not a false positive

• Anti-malware can make use of heuristic checking

  • The identification of potential threats within a file from behavioural patterns and characteristics rather than just relying on a database of known viruses

Worked Example Give two examples of how Anti-Malware protects devices against malicious software

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Answer

Final answer: Regular updates by the Anti-Malware software will keep an up to date list of threats [1]

Final answer: If any of the threats are detected on the device, the Anti-Malware software will quarantine the files [1]

Final answer: Anti-Malware software will scan external storage media when they are connected to the device [1]

Final answer: Preventing viruses from being transferred from storage media onto the device [1]