Hardware File Tracker for Antivirus Resource Optimization
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing antivirus protection software consumes significant resources and can be compromised by malicious attacks that deceive the operating system into believing a scan has been performed, leading to reduced computing performance and inadequate protection.
Innovation Solution
A dedicated hardware component tracks modified locations on a hard drive and provides a list of these locations to a protection program independently of the operating system, allowing for targeted scanning and secure communication, thereby reducing resource usage and ensuring scan integrity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If protection software scans 100% of files to provide complete protection, then protection coverage is improved, but computing performance deteriorates due to considerable resource demands
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the file system into two segments: files tracked by the dedicated hardware component (modified files) and files not tracked. The protection software only scans the segmented subset of modified files rather than the entire file system, reducing resource consumption while maintaining protection effectiveness for changed files.
Solution Approach 2:
The dedicated hardware component performs preliminary tracking of file modifications continuously in the background before the protection software needs to scan. This preliminary action maintains a ready list of modified files, eliminating the need for the protection software to perform resource-intensive full scans and thus preserving computing performance.
2Ease of operation
If protection software is tightly coupled into the operating system, then integration is improved, but security deteriorates because malicious scripts can fool the operating system into believing a scan was performed
Solution Approach 1:
The dedicated hardware component acts as an intermediary between the file system and the protection software. It provides a secure, isolated interface that tracks file modifications independently of the operating system, preventing malicious scripts from fooling the system while still enabling the protection software to function effectively.
Solution Approach 2:
The scanning and file tracking functionality is extracted from the operating system into a separate dedicated hardware component. This extraction creates an isolated security subsystem that cannot be compromised by OS-level malicious scripts, while the protection software retains its integration benefits through the hardware's interface.
3Reliability
If protection software scans all files regardless of modification status, then protection thoroughness is improved, but resource consumption worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial action by scanning only the necessary subset of files (modified files tracked by the hardware component) rather than performing excessive full system scans. This maintains adequate protection thoroughness for files that actually changed while significantly reducing resource consumption.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for protecting computing systems, and more particularly a system and method which a dedicated hardware component configured to communicate with a protection program. A computer hardware subsystem includes a memory comprising content. The content is at least a list of files which have been modified within a predetermined period of time. The list of files is a subset of files of a hard drive. A dedicated hardware component is configured to track the files which have been modified and provide a location of the files to the memory. A communication link between the dedicated hardware component and a protection program provides the protection program with the subset of files of the hard drive as referenced by the memory content.