Fact : It can be more harmful than a help if two separate antivirus are running on the system.

Year:2015

Said by “IT Admin of a mid-size Manufacturing company”

“We used to be worried about cyber security but not anymore. Instead of one antivirus, now we run two. This goes for desktops, laptops and servers. Not a single incident of data theft happened in our organization”

Myth Debunked With The Fact Below

The job of an antivirus is to detect the virus or anomalies and stop it before it infects the operating system and/or file system. Selecting a good antivirus is an art and as a thumb rule, the cost must not be the only selection criteria.

While performing audits at various companies, we have witnessed the presence of 2 or more antivirus software running on servers and desktop workstations. This is done to achieve a false sense of being secure. The common argument from IT head is, that there are some viruses captured by first antivirus and some or not, but those are captured by second antivirus. So we chose to install both.

There are 2 problems with this. First being, there are possibly few viruses which are not detected by either of the two antivirus. So having more than one protections does not exactly help. Secondly, it takes a toll on system performance and if the number of desktops , laptops and servers are high then the productivity loss needs to be considered and calculated.

There is one more reason – lately number of viruses have reduced and number of ransomware have increased beyond imagination. We have not seen a single commercial or open-source anti-malware software that prevents the system from all the ransomware attacks. The right approach is to have a well configured firewall with perimeter defense that protects the entry of malwares, a very well established patching system that is mostly automated and carefully monitored, and a latest and famous antivirus (which may not be cheap in costing but effective in thwarting the attacks).

Senior management must update their knowledge about information security. They must open their minds up about compliances such as ISO27001, as well as the vulnerability assessment penetration testing (VAPT) which is imperative for their corporate networks, web and cloud applications and also the mobile applications. Right approach for companies, is to find a best cyber security vendor company or a top of the class information security consulting partner, and improve their organization’s data security via threat modelling and various other apt approaches. Additional practices such as security code review services are also highly recommended.
References:
1. https://valencynetworks.com/blogs/cyber-attacks-explained-botnets/
2. https://valencynetworks.com/security-management/code-review.html

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