Anti-Malware Software (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE ICT)
Revision Note
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
[4]
Answer
Regular updates by the Anti-Malware software will keep an up to date list of threats [1]
If any of the threats are detected on the device, the Anti-Malware software will quarantine the files [1]
Anti-Malware software will scan external storage media when they are connected to the device [1]
Preventing viruses from being transferred from storage media onto the device [1]
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