Heuristic Analysis, Heuristics

This method is used by several anti-virus applications. Its purpose is to identify lesser known viruses and new variations of those previously categorized in the wild. A heuristic analysis will determine the vulnerability of a system against probable risks using various rules. Some are strictly based on data reports and statistics. Many anti-virus applications utilizing heuristics perform the function by executing commands of the program in question or certain scripts. This permits the program to simulate a scenario of what could possibly occur if the suspect file was to be executed, all while keeping the code isolated from a user’s machine. During the simulation, it carefully analyzes the commands as they are being executed. It monitors the common activities of infections, such as file replication, overwrites, and attempts to hide malicious code. In the case that one or more viral activity is detected, the suspect files are flagged and the user is notified.