Antivirus software has been an important part of our lives for the last 20+ years.
Ever since computers became affordable for average people to buy, we’ve needed antivirus software to protect those computers.
Now, the age of the antivirus may be over. The senior vice president of Symantec, Brian Dye, recently said in an interview that antivirus software was “dead”.
Symantec, as you probably know, makes the well-known antivirus software “Norton”. Norton has sold well for many years and is generally regarded as one of the leading software programs on the market today.

Why is antivirus dead?
Dye makes a few points in his Wall Street Journal interview that reveal why antivirus software is dead:
-Good antivirus software detects only about 45% of all attacks
-Over 80% of all malware only stays active for an hour
-70% of all threats only surface once
-Antivirus software uses signature-based tracking to detect viruses, and most malware creators have outsmarted even the most advanced signature detection software

What are antivirus software makers going to do next?
In spite of the odd remarks, Norton isn’t going to disappear anytime soon. Dye claims that Norton is going to adapt and change its offerings to combat the new threats.
Norton will roll out antivirus services which shut down specific attack avenues along with anti-spam tools, anti-phishing defense software, malicious website detectors, and social media threat alerts.
Of course, PC security software is far from dead. Popular PC security software for 2014 includes mobile VPN apps – which encrypt your internet connection wherever you go – as well as password managers and secure cloud storage services.
Using all of these services combined with intelligent browsing (like not downloading and installing .exe files from shady online sources) will prevent 99.9% of all malware attacks online.
Why would you pay $30 per year for a service that only detects 45% of attacks?