Today’s world is very different from medieval times, and user data is the most important thing one can think of. Data can be of anything! It could be the findings of an billion dollar research. It could be personal and secretive. It could be strategic and sensitive information, right from government’s archives. It could be the launch codes or blueprint of a nuclear bomb. There are countless possibilities, where data stolen or duplicated can be used for illegal, dangerous, malicious, and monetary purposes. In present times, there have been instances where leaked data brought entire economies down. Illicitly acquired data has led to clash between nations. Such is its importance. So, it must be guarded using appropriate means.
In most of the cases, it is not the technical ignorance of the user, but a well-planned “virus” attack, which opens the access gateways to the magnetic vaults of data. These innocent looking, small sized viruses are meticulously engineered to manipulate any loophole in the firewall and security layers of the system. Many times, they take user permissions in very creative ways, by setting baits for the user. Some viruses even facilitate their creators (aka Hackers) by providing remote-access to them. With so many ways to plunder user data, it is imperative that someone should research and device ways to stop this from happening. This seeded the idea to create a system for preventing and tackling such thefts, and thus, Antivirus Software systems came into existence.
