Microsoft and criminals hold the future of antivirus

Microsoft's plan to introduce antivirus products will shake up the market

The future of the antivirus industry will be determined by Microsoft and the online criminal fraternity, according to Kaspersky Lab. 

"Microsoft's plan to introduce antivirus products for home PCs, workstations and MS Exchange will shake up the market," said Eugene Kaspersky, head of antivirus research at Kaspersky Lab.

Kaspersky said that Microsoft would not make the same mistakes as when it launched an antivirus product 12 years ago.

"Microsoft will pay attention to consumer demands for better detection rates, faster reaction to the dramatically increased number of attacks, frequent updates and proactive technologies," he said.

However, Kaspersky also said that criminals and ever-changing malware would also have a huge impact on the future of antivirus.

"'Crimeware' has increased twofold during the past 12 months, strongly indicating that criminal activity on the internet has doubled in the same space of time," he said.

Investigating cyber-crime is a complex task, according to Kaspersky, because the internet has no physical borders.

He predicted that antivirus companies that fail to deal with the proliferation of 'crimeware' will lose market share.

Kaspersky also pointed to a rise in the amount of malware that attacks Linux, Mac OS and smartphones.