Coming: A Change in Tactics in Malware Battle

To keep up with the criminals, antivirus companies plan a major shift in approach,called 'whitelisting'.
By Erik Larkin
PC World

As a vast flood of new malware threatens to overwhelm antivirus software, security companies have begun changing how their programs protect PCs. To avoid being left in the dust by the crooks, companies plan to turn the tables on them by allowing only known good programs to run.

The technique, known as whitelisting, could help protect your computer. But though some security apps already use this approach (see the next page for our look at a few free downloads), it can also make using your PC a huge annoyance.

"Whitelisting is probably at the top of the list for what the industry needs to move towards," says Jeff Aliber, senior director of product marketing with antivirus maker Kaspersky Labs.

For Kaspersky and other antivirus companies, the ocean of malicious software in circulation today may mean that just tracking known good software will be easier than trying to keep tabs on all the bad stuff.  Read More.