Researchers from McAfee Labs can use the information gathered from users about malware to investigate, isolate, and deploy malware countermeasures that go beyond traditional malware fingerprints. The new technology enables McAfee to test the effectiveness of these malware countermeasures.
The malware threat is exploding. McAfee said it sees 55 000 malware samples coming in every day. But simply waiting for malware samples from customers and security experts is no longer sufficient to stem the malware threat.
“It is time to move beyond providing protection based on the conveyor belt of malicious software [malware] samples shared among cybersecurity companies. While samples are still important, the industry has been too focused on samples and creating signatures for the growing number of samples. It simply doesn’t scale; the bad guys have won that battle,” said Jeff Green, senior vice president at McAfee Labs.
“With this new technology we are taking advantage of our global presence and millions of PCs running McAfee to spot threats that other security providers may not see. McAfee Labs researchers can now do granular prospecting for threats,” Green added.
With the McAfee security beacons, the company hopes it can illuminate the dark recesses of the information seas and prevent users from crashing on the many malware rocks.