What is difference between heuristic detection and sigbature scanning?

Answer 1

Heuristic detection identifies threats by analyzing behaviors, code structures, or patterns that resemble known malicious activity, allowing it to catch new or modified threats even if they haven’t been formally recorded. Signature scanning, on the other hand, detects threats by matching exact code or characteristics against a database of known threat signatures, making it effective but limited to previously identified attacks.

At SafeAeon, we integrate both methods, leveraging the precision of signature scanning with the adaptability of heuristic detection, to deliver a comprehensive and proactive defense against evolving cyber threats.

Answer 2

Heuristic detection looks for the characteristics of viruses and malware, while signature scanning looks for specific files known to be malware.

In other words, heuristic detection can find recently created malware on a system, because it "acts" like other malware.

Signature scanning looks at a list of known malware file names, and then sees if there are any of them on the computer.