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.