The number of hackers around the world is growing rapidly. The figures are even greater when you look upon the methods they are using to hack your computer. With just a little piece of information, they can access your data without you knowing.
To protect themselves from cybercrimes, people install antivirus on their systems. But can antivirus protect you from hackers? Before going into that, let’s learn about antivirus.
What is an antivirus?
Suppose you are going to the bank to open a new account. As you entered the building, you observed that there were no security guards at the gate. They did not have CCTV cameras or any other security measure installed.
How can you say your money will be safe with the bank? You cannot, right? Although, if there were such banks in real, they would shut down in a week.
Anyways, just like everyone wants their money to be in safe hands, they want their data secured too.
That’s precisely why people use antivirus programs. Antivirus is basically a shield that protects your system from malware. When you download a file, the program will scan it for any malware.
Apart from scanning, it offers various features such as auto-clean, back-up, etc. Now the question arises whether it can protect your data from hackers or not. Let’s jump right into it.
Antivirus versus Hackers
Hackers’ job is dependent upon malware and viruses. If they see some virus on your computer, their work only becomes easy. Since antivirus prevents these viruses from entering your system, it will also keep you safe from hackers. However, not all antiviruses are efficient in this task.
A low-quality antivirus program may not be up to your expectations. While some programs can successfully evade the hackers, others will only disappoint you. To ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of the program, the following features should be present:
Real-time Scanning
Every antivirus program will have a scanning feature. It will help you scan the downloaded files to detect any malicious virus. But as mentioned above, not all work the same way. Ineffective products do not have an automatic scanning feature.
They will require you to scan manually to determine if there is any malware present in the system. On the other hand, an effective program offers active scanners that will keep checking the system for malicious entities.
In the absence of this feature, it becomes much easier for hackers to infiltrate the computer, and they start exploiting your data without you realizing anything.
Automatic Updates
Every system or software requires regular updates. So does an antivirus program. Malware keeps evolving into different forms that an outdated program will not be able to prevent. This type of malware can seriously harm your computer.
So to protect your data from the virus, the antivirus software should keep updating itself. Manually updating is a drawback in such cases. If you have the software that does not install updates automatically, you need to buy a new one. Because sometimes, it will be too late to install an update.
Protection for Multiple Apps
All of us use applications for work, entertainment, or education. Most of us even rely on these applications for our everyday tasks. Whether it is emails or instant messengers, any malicious entity can enter your system from these sources.
Even internet browsers aren’t safe these days. Antivirus programs should be able to prevent various unprotected apps from harmful activities; otherwise, your system will have a high degree of exposure, making it easy for hackers.
Auto-Clean
What good is it if the software cannot immediately eliminate the viruses? Once detected, the virus needs to be dismissed as soon as possible. An effective program will detect as well as remove the malware from your system.
It should not require a manual wiping out because some hackers want you to open the files, which can harm your system. The program should have an auto-clean feature to clean out all the garbage from your system.
Back-up
This feature may not come with every antivirus program. Only the highly effective can provide you this luxury. During difficult circumstances, like cyber-attacks, the back-up option should be turned on.
Basically, you should keep it enabled all the time. Effective antivirus software will create the back-up of your files, and you will be able to restore them. This feature is the most beneficial among all the others.
So keep in mind the above-mentioned features, and you will have the best antivirus software. Also, check if you are downloading the software from a reliable source because it would be ironic if an antivirus file infiltrates your system with a virus.
Is antivirus enough?
Hackers will always target the most vulnerable system unless they want a challenge. So antivirus will hold them back for as long as possible. But sometimes it will not be enough.
You don’t need to worry because there is a solution for that too. There are some other security measures that you can add to your system. Have a look at them!
- Firewall: Firewalls protect you against unauthorized access. Once enabled, no one can gain access to your computer. It will only permit you and other authorities to enter your computer.
- Web scanner: A web scanner will scan web pages and websites for potential danger. It will immediately prevent the cyberattacks that come your way. The best thing about these scanners is their availability at no cost.
- Encryption software: This software will encrypt your data in such a way that an unknown user will not be able to decode. Whether you are sending a mail or downloading a file, it will keep your data safe and secured.
Endnotes
If you research, you can find more such security measures. There are hundreds of software on the internet. Yes, the antivirus can protect you from hackers, but be on the safer side and use other programs as well. Make sure that the source and the software are reliable. Otherwise, you will end up giving away your data.