What is Next-Generation Antivirus (NGAV)?

How Next-Generation Antivirus (NGAV) Works

Antivirus software is actually one of the oldest security solutions in existence. However, these legacy antivirus solutions are ineffective against modern cyber threats as their reliance on signature-based detection of malware makes them vulnerable to evasive modern malware.

NGAV is designed to replace the legacy AV with a solution designed to meet the needs of the modern enterprise. Next-generation antivirus leverages machine learning to detect potential threats via behavioral analysis, enabling them to detect unknown threats that signature-based solutions would miss.

NGAV also takes advantage of the capabilities and benefits of cloud-based infrastructure. Cloud-based NGAV is faster and easier to deploy and maintain and eliminates the risks and burdens associated with maintaining the standalone software and the signature databases that traditional antivirus uses for malware detection.

Next-Generation Antivirus (NGAV) with Check Point

Check Point’s NGAV solutions are designed to address the cyber risks faced by the modern endpoint. This goes beyond solely detecting malware to include a number of targeted capabilities, such as:

• Anti-Bot: A significant and growing percentage of Internet traffic is associated with malicious bots performing credential stuffing, vulnerability scans, and other automated attacks. Anti-bot protection is essential to ensuring that an endpoint cannot be exploited by these automated attacks.
• Anti-Exploit: Patch management is complex and time-consuming, meaning that many endpoints are left vulnerable to known attacks. Anti-exploit protects these systems against exploitation of known vulnerabilities.
• Zero-Phishing: Phishing attacks are the most common cyberattack. Zero-phishing performs real time investigation of websites and automatically blocks users from entering credentials into malicious sites, preventing them from being compromised.
• Sandboxing: Sandbox analysis enables suspicious content to be examined in an isolated environment. This makes it possible to expose hidden functionality and identify and block novel threats before they pose a threat to an endpoint.
• Content Disarm and Reconstruction (CDR): Documents and other files can contain malicious embedded functionality. CDR identifies and excises this malicious content from the document before delivering it to the user, providing a balance between system usability and security.
• AI-Driven Detection: Signature-based detection is increasingly ineffective as malware becomes more evasive. AI-driven threat detection makes it possible to identify and mitigate novel and zero-day attacks via behavioral analysis.

Is NGAV Enough in the New Normal?

The COVID-19 pandemic had a dramatic impact on enterprise cybersecurity. In the past, many organizations focused their security efforts on the network level, which provided visibility into the traffic and content entering and leaving corporate devices.

With the growth of remote work in the wake of COVID-19, this approach to security is no longer feasible. Employees are working from home, and cloud adoption has risen dramatically. As a result, traditional perimeter-based security strategies are no longer sufficient.

The shift to remote work means that endpoint security is more important than ever. NGAV is a vital component of an enterprise endpoint security strategy, but it is not enough to protect businesses and their employees from cyber threats in the “new normal”. Organizations require a complete endpoint security solution to address cybersecurity risk, requiring endpoint detection and response (EDR) in addition to NGAV.

A Comprehensive Endpoint Security Solution

NGAV is an essential first step, but comprehensive endpoint security also requires EDR. Check Point’s EDR solution complements its Next-generation antivirus with the following capabilities:

• Threat Hunting Support: Reactive and preventative security is not always effective. Defense in depth also requires proactive measures like threat hunting. Check Point EDR supports threat hunting using data aggregation and analysis enhanced with threat intelligence.
• Behavioral Analysis: Not all cyberattacks involve malware. EDR provides behavioral analytics, making it possible to detect anomalous or suspicious behaviors that could indicate a potential or ongoing attack.
• Anti-Ransomware: Ransomware has become one of the most widespread, expensive, and damaging threats to enterprise cybersecurity and business operations. Check Point EDR offers tailored anti-ransomware protection designed to address this specific cyber threat.

Effective endpoint security requires a complete endpoint security solution. To learn more about what to look for in an endpoint protection product, check out this buyer’s guide.

Check Point’s Harmony Endpoint blends the capabilities of NGAV and EDR to provide complete endpoint protection. To learn more about Harmony Endpoint’s capabilities, check out this product tour. You’re also welcome to request a personalized demo to learn how Harmony Endpoint can improve your organization’s endpoint security. To try out Harmony Endpoint for yourself, sign up for a free trial.