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Antivirus & Next-Gen AV (NGAV)

Antivirus and Next-Gen AV (NGAV) are endpoint protection technologies that detect and block malware. While traditional antivirus relies on signatures, NGAV uses behavioral and machine learning techniques to identify novel threats.

What is Antivirus & NGAV?How it typically works?Common techniquesImpactFurther reading

What is Antivirus & NGAV?

Antivirus has been a staple of endpoint defense for decades, protecting users by comparing files against databases of known malware signatures. However, attackers now develop new malware at a scale that outpaces signature updates. Next-Gen AV emerged to address this limitation, focusing on behavioral analysis and machine learning to detect threats without prior signatures. For SecOps teams, NGAV represents the evolution of endpoint protection, closing the gap between legacy antivirus and advanced endpoint detection and response.

How it typically works?

  1. Signature scanning: traditional AV checks files against a database of known threats.
  2. Heuristic analysis: unknown files are analyzed for suspicious patterns.
  3. Behavioral monitoring: NGAV observes runtime behavior to catch novel threats.
  4. Machine learning models: classify files or processes as malicious based on learned patterns.
  5. Cloud updates: threat intelligence is continuously updated from vendor networks.

Common techniques

  • Signature-based detection: effective against known malware families.
  • Heuristics: detect suspicious code structures even without exact matches.
  • Behavioral analysis: block ransomware when encryption patterns are detected.
  • Machine learning: train models on malicious vs benign data to improve accuracy.
  • Sandboxing: detonate files in isolated environments to observe behavior.
  • Integration with EDR/XDR: NGAV often forms the prevention layer while EDR handles investigation.

Impact

Antivirus remains important for baseline protection, especially on consumer and unmanaged devices. NGAV improves resilience against zero-day malware and ransomware, complementing broader endpoint defense strategies. However, no AV system is foolproof, and attackers actively develop evasion techniques.

For SecOps, NGAV provides valuable protection but must be integrated with detection and response tools for full visibility and control.

Further reading

Related topics

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)MalwareRansomware