Preventing threat access to you client system is your first line fo
defense against malware.
VirusScan Enterprise
Access Protection provides this defense by comparing an action being requested
against a list of configured rules. Each rule can be configured to block or
report, or block and report access violations when they occur.
How threats gain access
The most common ways threats gain access to your system include:
- Macros — As part of word
processing documents and spreadsheet applications.
- Executable files —
Seemingly benign programs can include viruses along with the expected program.
For example, some common file type extensions are .EXE, .COM, .VBS, .BAT, .HLP
and .DLL.
- Email — Jokes, games, and
images as part of email messages with attachments.
- Scripts — Associated with
web pages and emails, scripts such as, ActiveX and JavaScript, if allowed to
run, can include viruses.
- Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
messages — Files sent along with these messages can easily contain malware as
part of the message. For example, automatic startup processes can contain worms
and Trojan threats.
- Browser and application
Help files — Downloading these help files exposes the system to embedded
viruses and executables.
- Combinations of all these
— Sophisticated malware creators combine all of these delivery methods and even
embed one piece of malware within another to try and access your computer.