New malware overwhelming anti-virus tools

Experts at the RSA in San Francisco show have raised doubts about the ability of today’s signature-based security software to fend off new viruses and worms. Signature-based technologies are now "crumbling under the pressure of the number of attacks from cybercriminals," said Art Coviello, president of RSA, the security division of EMC. This year alone, about 200,000 virus variants were expected to be released, he said. At the same time, antivirus companies were, on average, at least two months behind in tracking malware, while "static" intrusion-detection systems could intercept only about 70 percent of new threats.

"Today, static security products are just security table stakes," Coviello said. "Tomorrow, they'll be a complete waste of money. Static solutions are not enough for dynamic threats."

What's needed instead are multilayered defenses - and a more information-centric security model, Coviello said. "[Antivirus products] may soon be a waste of money, not because viruses and worms will go away," but because behaviour-blocking and "collective intelligence" technologies will be the best way to effectively combat viruses, he said.