Triumfant Launches Signature Counter Illustrating Inability of Traditional Malware Solutions to Protect Against Constant Attacks

May 25, 2009 · Filed Under Communications, Internet Software, Networking Software, Productivity Software, Security Software, Software News 

As Rate of Attacks Outpace Signature Creation, Enterprises Require New “Signature-less” Protection

Triumfant(R), creator of patent-pending software that automatically discovers, analyzes and remediates unexpected changes and conditions at the endpoint, announced the launch of its “Signature Counter,” which updates each time a traditional antivirus vendor must create a malicious code signature to combat a new malware attack. The counter already places the number of required signatures at over 3.7 million.

The counter is based on Symantec’s yearly ‘Internet Security Threat Report,’ which stated that the company created 1.6 million new malicious code signatures in 2008, bringing its all time total to 2.6 million. The Signature Counter started 2009 at 2.6 million and has added 1.0 million signatures to-date, based on projections for the year.

Symantec stated that the number of signatures created in 2008 was a 265 percent increase over 2007. If this same increase is applied from 2008 for 2009, it can be conservatively estimated that antivirus vendors will need to create 4 million new signatures this year.

Creating 4 million new signatures in one year breaks down to:

  • 333,000 signatures per month
  • 11,000 signatures per day
  • 7.6 signatures per minute
  • 1 signature every 8 seconds

At this rate, the response times of the signature-based tools could potentially suffer, widening the gap from detection to remediation. To protect against these attacks, users will increasingly require new solutions that do not rely on signatures to protect against network and endpoint attacks.

“Our signature counter is designed to demonstrate the incredible and unrealistic pace at which signatures need to be created to kill and remediate malware attacks. Given that there were less than 1 million signatures 18 months ago, seeing the number in such a graphical form is eye opening. We are quickly reaching a point where the number of new attacks is getting ahead of the collective ability to write signatures,” said Jim Ivers, CMO, Triumfant. “Now is the time to look at signature-less alternatives. Antivirus solutions won’t be going away, but vendors need to look at new options, including anomaly detection, behavioral analysis and heuristics to help protect their customers.”

Triumfant leverages a one-of-a-kind ability to discover, diagnose and repair unwanted changes and unexpected conditions on endpoint computers and servers to detect previously unidentified malicious attacks, perform security configuration management, and enforce organizational and mandated security policies. Triumfant’s Resolution Manager identifies and removes malware, repairing any changes made by the infection and returning a machine to its original state within a matter of minutes.

Triumfant Resolution Manager:

  • Uses no signatures
  • Needs no previous knowledge of the malware or its variants
  • Continuously scans the desktop in real-time, looking for changes caused by malware
  • Requires no human intervention – not even from virus researchers
  • Remediates all collateral damage to a machine

Visit the Signature Clock at www.triumfant.com

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