Detecting Computer Viruses Without Specialized Software
Since the advent of computers, phones, and other electronic devices, viruses have also emerged attempting to tamper with their systems, steal their data, or worse — because hackers usually have a specific target in mind, and they try with all their might to create viruses that get them to their goals unobstructed.
And of course, just as there are hackers, there are also those who fight them — always striving to protect the personal data of every entity and to maintain general cybersecurity. In pursuit of this noble goal, experts have always been developing specialized programs to detect viruses and technologies to eliminate them from our electronic devices.
And as technology advances, so do programs and techniques, until researchers finally arrived at a technology for detecting viruses without any software.
Yes, this is what a specialized team of researchers in France has achieved — detecting computer viruses without specialized software — a cutting-edge technique in this field. But how does it work? And will this technology be available to everyone, or will it be reserved exclusively for specific entities?
Detecting computer viruses without specialized software
is a technology that relies on a device for detecting magnetic fields,
and an oscillation sensor unit designed to detect electromagnetic signatures of viruses potentially present in computers. That is, when any program runs on a computer, it emits electromagnetic waves that determine whether your computer contains a virus or not.
The basis for developing this technology:
Raspberry Pi — that is the name the Research Institute of Computer Science and Random Systems
(Research Institute of Computer Science and Random Systems (IRISA)) gave to this new technology.
They developed it based on the idea of measuring the magnetic fields of known viruses.
They then analyzed them using an oscillation sensor unit,
which enabled them to discover that every virus has a unique electromagnetic signature distinct from others. Finally, they loaded the virus-detection device with all the collected electromagnetic signatures, so that the device could subsequently identify a virus through its electromagnetic signature alone.
In one of their statements to a specialized technology journal,
the research team working on developing the software-free virus detection technology confirmed that it does not require downloading any software onto computer devices, and furthermore it is completely unaffected by the tricks hackers devise to conceal traces of viruses in computers.
Success rate of the software-free virus detection technology:
Of course, any new technology needs to be tested to assess its effectiveness, and this is what the research team at the Research Institute of Computer Science and Random Systems (IRISA) also did.
They tested the software-free virus detection technology against a large number of known viruses.
And indeed after testing it, the technology demonstrated its efficiency by successfully identifying more than 99% of viruses on computers as well as on smartphones.
Will this new technology be available to everyone?
This is what the research and development team behind the software-free virus detection technology ruled out,
stating that it is very unlikely this technology will be made available to the general public,
given its sensitivity and the sensitive nature of the subject it addresses.
Therefore, it will most likely remain restricted to specialized entities for use in public-interest fields,
such as protecting national cybersecurity,
major corporations, and similar applications.
✓ Read more about:
- Top 11 apps on Windows 11 in 2022
- Exynos 2200 — a new processor from Samsung
- Smart home devices at CES 22
