There was no av-market at that time at all, although it must not be at present either. There is an attempt to create something of the kind, but today's anti-virus market is a large soap bubble
May 30, 2006 (Press Release) --
Igor Danilov: “The Anti-Virus Software Market Is A Big Bubble”.
IT security is one of the most dynamic segments of the IT market, with anti-virus software traditionally featuring at the top of the list of the market players. Many habitually think that the worldwide web is teeming with viruses against which a powerful shield is needed. Meanwhile, Igor Danilov, the developer of the legendary Russian anti-virus, Dr. Web, sees the anti-virus software market as a huge bubble existing solely due to PC users’ fears.
You were among the founders of Russia’s anti-virus software market. Has the situation changed a lot since then?
When it all began, there was no market at all; actually, there isn’t any today, either. There have been attempts to create something of the kind; and yet, today’s anti-virus market is one huge bubble – both here in Russia and worldwide. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the first viruses appeared, every other programmer was busy developing anti-virus program. That was fairly easy and didn’t take too much time to do. You had a virus – you added a signature, or else a control sum, then you scanned a file for the virus body, notified the user, and that was that. Later it turned out it was not enough to merely notify the user, so curing techniques began to be included in the anti-virus packages. That’s where a big qualitative leap occurred, leaving many home-made virus developers dissatisfied with the quality of their products and removing a huge number of viruses from the scene for good.
That evolution brought to the forefront a group of IT leaders who were able to do the full-fledged virus detecting and curing. In mid-1993, the first polymorphic anti-virus instruments appeared. At about the same time, Dr. Web became widely known. In 1993-1997, not more than a couple of new anti-virus software packages were developed, and by the end of 1997, five top players had taken the market under their full control, making our subsequent work pretty dull: with the expansion of the Internet services, virus technology grew ever more primitive. Delivering a virus from point A to point B became very easy: you no longer had to use sophisticated technology to conceal the virus body. The profit-thirty anti-virus developers were sort of taken hostage: the outwardly good anti-virus tools they offered were actually no good at all because they were only effective against primitive viruses. Their inability to crack more sophisticated ones was somehow overlooked amidst a sea of trivial viruses plaguing the web.
Today’s situation at the market is indeed deplorable. The majority of tools offered today cannot be identified as anti-virus software proper; it seems, at best, that they have been developed by pretty bright high school undergraduates each of whom claims to be “the leader”. The threshold level of admission to the anti-virus club has dropped considerably, with primitive script virus fighters coming to the fore to lead the way.
The interview was published in CNews (e-version is www.cnews.ru) in May, 2006
On Doctor Web’s web-site it is published here
http://company.drweb.com/press/igor+daniloff+cnews+interview+may+2006/?lng=en
The interview can be published with the link to www.cnews.ru
IT security is one of the most dynamic segments of the IT market, with anti-virus software traditionally featuring at the top of the list of the market players. Many habitually think that the worldwide web is teeming with viruses against which a powerful shield is needed. Meanwhile, Igor Danilov, the developer of the legendary Russian anti-virus, Dr. Web, sees the anti-virus software market as a huge bubble existing solely due to PC users’ fears.
You were among the founders of Russia’s anti-virus software market. Has the situation changed a lot since then?
When it all began, there was no market at all; actually, there isn’t any today, either. There have been attempts to create something of the kind; and yet, today’s anti-virus market is one huge bubble – both here in Russia and worldwide. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the first viruses appeared, every other programmer was busy developing anti-virus program. That was fairly easy and didn’t take too much time to do. You had a virus – you added a signature, or else a control sum, then you scanned a file for the virus body, notified the user, and that was that. Later it turned out it was not enough to merely notify the user, so curing techniques began to be included in the anti-virus packages. That’s where a big qualitative leap occurred, leaving many home-made virus developers dissatisfied with the quality of their products and removing a huge number of viruses from the scene for good.
That evolution brought to the forefront a group of IT leaders who were able to do the full-fledged virus detecting and curing. In mid-1993, the first polymorphic anti-virus instruments appeared. At about the same time, Dr. Web became widely known. In 1993-1997, not more than a couple of new anti-virus software packages were developed, and by the end of 1997, five top players had taken the market under their full control, making our subsequent work pretty dull: with the expansion of the Internet services, virus technology grew ever more primitive. Delivering a virus from point A to point B became very easy: you no longer had to use sophisticated technology to conceal the virus body. The profit-thirty anti-virus developers were sort of taken hostage: the outwardly good anti-virus tools they offered were actually no good at all because they were only effective against primitive viruses. Their inability to crack more sophisticated ones was somehow overlooked amidst a sea of trivial viruses plaguing the web.
Today’s situation at the market is indeed deplorable. The majority of tools offered today cannot be identified as anti-virus software proper; it seems, at best, that they have been developed by pretty bright high school undergraduates each of whom claims to be “the leader”. The threshold level of admission to the anti-virus club has dropped considerably, with primitive script virus fighters coming to the fore to lead the way.
The interview was published in CNews (e-version is www.cnews.ru) in May, 2006
On Doctor Web’s web-site it is published here
http://company.drweb.com/press/igor+daniloff+cnews+interview+may+2006/?lng=en
The interview can be published with the link to www.cnews.ru
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