Implementing Virus Scanning in Computer Networks

Some viruses exploit the features and capabilities of computer networks to spread, operate and damage network environments. For example, the virus may copy itself to other computers in the network or may increase network activities congesting the network traffic. The conventional anti-viruses are not efficient enough to detect and control viruses in a network environment. As they are file based they cannot scan the data while being downloaded from the server. Most of the drawbacks of conventional scanning are taken care by a firewall-based virus scanning. But this method requires high-end machines to withstand the load of centralized scanning. There is another limitation of firewall based scanning. Implementing anti-virus into the firewall prevents outside viruses entering from the Internet but fails to provide protection from viruses spreading within the LAN. A network virus scanner should be specially designed in order to protect computers in a network environment. It should have capability to scan the data while being transferred from server to client or from one computer to other in order to prevent transfer of infected data. The anti-virus should be capable of controlling virus-outbursts to prevent other commuters in the network from being infected. The article illustrates 10 interesting inventions from US patent database dealing with scanning viruses in a network