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Everything You Need to Know About Next-Generation Antivirus (NGAV)

By January 1, 2021No Comments6 min read
Next-Generation Antivirus (NGAV)

Next-generation antivirus software can help you in detecting and responding to cyberattacks. They will help you in preventing most of the cyberattack tactics and techniques. There is no standard definition of NGAV. It is a simple antivirus software that uses definition-based threats or signature files for detecting attacks. These antiviruses will use advanced features like AI and ML for providing advanced threat prevention.

NGAV is also known as endpoint protection or EPP as it will help you in protecting your network endpoints. EPP provides more robust features like endpoint management, application control, device control, sandboxing, and host-based firewalls. These features are generally used by advanced security professionals. In this article, we are going to talk about next-generation antivirus and why they are important for your business.

Why businesses need NGAV?

Modern endpoint protection is very important for businesses. Most attackers can bypass simple antivirus software by using new malware.

Your network endpoints are the biggest security gaps in your network. These endpoints consist of mobile devices, laptops, and desktop computers. Most attackers already know this fact and they will always target your network endpoint. Companies will generally forget to protect their endpoints. Also, they don’t have enough resources to deal with all the endpoint vulnerabilities.

You can’t use traditional antivirus software for dealing with fileless, multi-vector, and script-based attacks. Also, it can’t help you in defending your systems from advanced ransomware. Due to this, there is a significant security gap in your network.

You can’t respond to these attacks until you have access to coordinated, consistent, and comprehensive prevention measures. Thus, it is very difficult to deal with these attacks. Most SMBs are still using traditional antivirus software but it can’t protect your business from modern security threats.

Attackers already know about the loopholes of the traditional antivirus. If you truly want to protect your business from modern cyber attackers, then you should use NGAV. It will provide endpoint detection and response capability to your business. You can use this for protecting your endpoint devices. Also, it can help you in tracking your endpoint devices. You can store the data of your endpoint devices for future use.

NGAV will also use AI for learning about the new attacks. NGAV is also using cloud capabilities for providing protection to their users. It can protect you from most of the new generation attacks.

Benefits of NGAV:

Some of the main advantages of using NGAV are:

  1. Protection from next-generation attacks

Hackers are also evolving with time. They are using complex attacks for targeting businesses. Thus, it is important to use the latest security tools for dealing with these attacks. Your traditional software can’t protect you from these complex attacks. Attackers have evolved their processes. They already know what antivirus can catch. Thus, they are building better malware.

The only disadvantage of traditional antivirus is that it uses a set of known processes, behaviors, and threats. NGAV will take this one step further. These advanced security tools can also anticipate unknown attacks. Thus, they can protect your business from even unknown attacks.

NGAV will check your network connections, applications, processes, and files. It will find the connection between these different components. Thus, NGAV can find data with malicious behaviors, activities, and intents. Sometimes NGAV can even protect you from 0-day attacks. This is the ultimate level of defense that you can get.

  1. Artificial Intelligence

The main problem with normal antivirus software is that it can only use the recent database of viruses and malware. Thus, it can’t protect your computer from the latest threats. If your antivirus is not updated, then attackers can even use old attacks for targeting your business.

NGAV will use AI and machine learning for finding suspicious behaviors in your network. These types of behavior are generally not performed by computers. It is similar to how your bank will call you for verifying purchases from unknown or new locations. MI will use predictive analytics for finding legit actions.

If NGAV thinks that something is malicious, then it will flag and stop the activity. The best thing about NGAV will also learn with time. Thus, these tools will become more effective with time. This is the power of ML.

  1. EDR or Endpoint detection and response

NGAV can help you in protecting your data from attackers. However, even NGAV has some limits. It is better when compared with normal antivirus. Attackers are already looking for better malware. They are trying to build malware that can fool NGAV.

EDR will help you in keeping a track of all the endpoint activities. It is similar to a surveillance camera. You can use the data collected by EDR for detecting new threats. Your security solution can learn from past incidents. You can enable behavior monitoring, predictive analytics, and machine learning for protecting your network.

  1. Cloud-based analytics

EDR and NGAV tools are using cloud technology for reaching their fullest potential. They are using cloud-based analytics for offering bi-directional communication to all the users.

Cloud platforms will provide the scalability and computational power that your NGAV needs for monitoring and comparing the old data. This will help you in using the latest AI and ML technologies at your peak. NGAV is proactive in nature and it can help you in preventing data breaches. Thus, you should consider using NGAV.

Conclusion

These are the main benefits of using NGAV. It is slowly going to become a new standard. You should start using this antivirus software as it will help you in protecting your network from attackers. There are various NGAV tools available in the market that you can use. It can help you in quickly discovering and hunting down attackers. NGAV will provide a proactive approach to your business. You can use it for preventing cyber attacks before it even happens. Experienced MSPs like Bleuwire can help you in finding the best security tools for your business. They will help you in protecting your business from modern attackers. Thus, you should consider working with them. If you need more information regarding the latest security tools, then you can contact Bleuwire.

Contact us today to learn about Bleuwire™  services and solutions in how we can help your business.