Sunbelt Software - VIPER White Paper Sample

The Problem with the Antivirus Industry Sunbelt Software believes that the antivirus industry—a multibillion dollar industry—needs to change. Companies like Symantec have very significant revenues, and even smaller companies like Sophos and Kaspersky are $200- to $300-million companies. Sunbelt Software believes that the problem in the industry is that antivirus has become a “must-have” tool. This means it has become, in effect, monopolized by the larger brands that increase subscription fees every year. The product quality has declined during the past several years. This technology has become buggy and bloated, resulting in a sad state of affairs. For individual PC users, addressing any problem requires disabling or uninstalling the existing antivirus solution, which can be a problem.

This means the industry has not evolved to meet the needs of its customers. The industry is also reluctant to detect “grayware,” which was a problem in the days of spyware. When the antivirus companies failed to address the spyware business quickly, that left the door open for companies to create antispyware products. However, there is still reluctance in the enterprise. The antivirus industry may have caught up with spyware and adware, but a range of other types of tools is available, such as remote monitoring tools and packet analysis tools, that IT administrators should know about.

The problem is not just malware—the problem is software that can also act like malware. The antivirus industry runs the gamut from bloated software to high subscription prices to offshore support.

There is no practical difference between “spyware” and “viruses”—everything falls into the category of “malware.”

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