How does antivirus software identify viruses?

How does antivirus software identify viruses?

• A. Each virus has a unique 'signature' known to virus protection software and stored in a database
• B. It identifies viruses by color of the file icon
• C. It uses user login information to detect viruses
• D. It relies on firewall rules to spot infections

Answer: (A)

Antivirus software mainly detects viruses by comparing files to a database of known malware signatures. A signature is a unique pattern or sequence of data in the malicious code that identifies a specific virus. The software keeps these signatures in a database and scans files to see if any match a signature. If a match is found, the file is flagged as malware and can be quarantined or removed. Keeping the signature database up to date is essential, because new viruses are created regularly and need new signatures to be recognized. Other options don’t fit because icons are just visuals and can be misleading, user login information isn’t used to detect malware, and firewall rules monitor network activity rather than the actual contents of files on a device. Antivirus may also use heuristic or behavior-based methods to catch new, unknown threats, but signature matching is the main, reliable method for identifying known viruses.

Antivirus software mainly detects viruses by comparing files to a database of known malware signatures. A signature is a unique pattern or sequence of data in the malicious code that identifies a specific virus. The software keeps these signatures in a database and scans files to see if any match a signature. If a match is found, the file is flagged as malware and can be quarantined or removed. Keeping the signature database up to date is essential, because new viruses are created regularly and need new signatures to be recognized.

Other options don’t fit because icons are just visuals and can be misleading, user login information isn’t used to detect malware, and firewall rules monitor network activity rather than the actual contents of files on a device. Antivirus may also use heuristic or behavior-based methods to catch new, unknown threats, but signature matching is the main, reliable method for identifying known viruses.