Close the Zero Hour Gap

Proofpoint Zero-Hour Anti-Virus Whitepaper: Protection from Emerging Virus Threats

Today’s malware distributors skirt traditional defenses by exploiting the “zero hour gap,” the time it takes to identify the attacking malware and write signatures that can detect and neutralize it. Recent studies have shown the lag time or gap between when a virus is recognized and a signature written to combat it can range from several hours to more than one day.

To exploit this gap, virus writers have taken to using several new distribution strategies—so-called short-span attacks and serial-variant attacks. Sometimes they use a combination of both techniques.

This whitepaper examines new virus distribution techniques and how Proofpoint Zero-Hour Anti-Virus technology protects enterprises against new viral outbreaks within minutes of their introduction.

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About Proofpoint Zero-Hour Anti-Virus

The Proofpoint Zero-Hour Anti-Virus™ module, a component of the Proofpoint Messaging Security Gateway™ and Proofpoint Protection Server®, protects enterprises against new viruses and other forms of malicious code during the critical first hours after new viruses are released and before anti-virus signatures have been updated.

To protect large organizations from emerging virus attacks, Proofpoint Zero-Hour Anti-Virus combines global analysis of Internet traffic patterns with local containment of suspicious messages and attachments.

Proofpoint Zero-Hour Anti-Virus constantly analyzes millions of Internet messages for anomalies that indicate a potential virus attack. Advanced pattern recognition technology is used to identify new viruses within minutes of their mass distribution over the internet with greater than 95% accuracy.

At the customer’s site, Proofpoint Zero-Hour Anti-Virus analyzes incoming messages for similarities with suspected virus messages. Messages and attachments that exhibit recurrent pattern characteristics of the emerging virus are automatically quarantined at the enterprise gateway where they can be held until the availability of a production-ready virus signature.

Learn more about protecting your enterprise from zero-hour threats by downloading this free whitepaper from Proofpoint, Inc.