Antivirus isn’t dead — it’s fertilizer
That’s the gist of a piece I wrote for CSO on the future of anti-virus software.
Also see this related post by hellnbak, why not just tell the truth?
Update: Robin Bloor, an analyst mentioned in this article, has posted some comments on it, though they do not seem balanced. For instance, he praises Symantec and Kaspersky and condemns BitDefender, though all three would still seem to be using signatures.
It’s necessary for the AV vendors to evolve their products. As such the transition will involve signatures. I spoke to CA about this (because they did the same) and they said that there is value in signatures both from a marketing perspective (users expectations) and from an intruder forensics capability. Neither reason is about security.