What to look for in Security Suites in 2013

The threat landscape is constantly changing. Cyber criminals are developing ingenious ways to circumvent the best that network security has to offer. Data breaches, DDos attacks, cyber espionage and other types of malware attacks have all increased both in intensity and in volumes throughout 2012 and into 2013.

In such a scheme of things, all fingers point to security services and suites that are supposed to protect against such threats in the first place. A big reason why cyber crimes succeed is because much of the existing antivirus suites are now obsolete. Most traditional security suites are signature based, meaning that they depend on the signatures of the malware, uploaded into their database by their security researchers to block malware. Cyber criminals work much faster than security researchers do, as evident from the scores of zero day exploits launched in recent times. By the time the malware signature reach the database of the security suite, the new malware would already have done its deed. To overcome this glaring drawback, security suites are now exploring issuing real time updates, by leveraging the cloud. Security suites that offer such facility stand a good chance of success in 2013.

However, simply improving on the signature recognition capabilities is not enough. Countering the latest threats require a proactive approach to blocking malware by methods such as behavior analysis to identify suspicious traffic, and other security services. Suites that adopt such a multi-pronged strategy, and also offer a wide range of options, such as network monitoring, encryption, and more, in addition to the basic options such as malware blocking and firewall, are more effective in countering the latest threats.

Among the top security suite is Norton Internet Security 2013, picked as the editor’s choice by PCMag. This suite scores for its high malware removal rate in security testing, intelligent firewall that blocks the latest threats, and top-grade exploit blocking capabilities, besides its highly accurate antispam and antiphishing features. This suite has updated its behavioral detection feature comprehensively, when compared to its 2012 avatar.

Norton 360 may actually be a touch better than Norton Internet Security 2013, as if provides almost all the capabilities of the latter, and also remote management capabilities and 2GB of online storage. This suite is more user friendly, with self-healing, tune-up and diagnostic report facilities.

Outside of Norton, Webroot SecureAnywhere Complete is also a good pick for 2013. This extremely light suite scores for its excellent protection and cleanup capabilities, besides offering online backup and powerful password management.