The great debate – are anti-malware solutions really worthwhile?
Allow me to offer my opinion on the efficacy of anti-malware software. Over the years, I've heard some cybersecurity experts at industry conferences ridicule the efficacy of anti-malware solutions and recommend that organizations not bother using such solutions. They tend to justify this point of view by pointing out that anti-malware software cannot detect and clean all threats. This is true. They also point out that the anti-malware solutions can have vulnerabilities themselves that can increase the attack surface area instead of reducing it. This is also true. Since anti-malware software typically has access to sensitive parts of operating systems and the data they scan, they can be an effective target for attackers. Some anti-malware vendors have even been accused of using the privileged access to systems that their products have, to provide illicit access to systems (Solon, 2017). Other vendors...