How do anti-virus companies combat new threats

Virus writers used to be stereotypical nerds – teenage boys in bedrooms, avenging what they saw as grievances against the world.

Nowadays, the threat is more sinister. Often viruses are designed to steal information such as passwords or bank details, or to tie up a company’s computer system and blackmail them. Many of these new viruses are bankrolled by criminal gangs.

Fortunately for the rest of us, anti-virus companies are also getting better at what they do, with plenty of money being invested in new research.

We visited the research labs of two anti-virus companies, F-Secure and Symantec, to see how money is spent and to ask whether the fight against viruses is being won or lost.