Explaining Webroot Phileas System
Phileas system designed at Webroot updates its threat database automatically. Threat definitions that are updated in real time provide framework for accurate detection of spyware software and malware.
How does Phileas work?
Phileas is an automated bot that does automatic spyware research whilst crawling the Web.
Phileas identifies URLs that may contain exploits with CWS, nCase, VX2 and c2 media Lop being the most commonly found spyware.
Phileas uses a bot network crawling the Web approximately 100 times faster than manual crawl would do. Bots scan each found site looking for suspicious application code.
Phileas can identify known threats and forward unknown exploits and potentially dangerous sites for research at Webroot's headquarters.
Webroot research centre uses algorithms to create definitions for each new spyware signature or variant before an update is released to the end customers.
Phileas is collecting information related to:
- Security holes and exploits that are being used to distribute spyware
- Country of origin of the spyware
- Types of identifiable spyware
- URLs that are known to spread spyware
According to Webroot researchers Phileas has scanned more than 50 million web pages.
Phileas name comes from the Jules Verne “Around the World in Eighty Days”.
Proactive Discovery Approach
Spyware threat research is resource intensive and time-consuming process.
The most advanced mutations of spyware are getting more and more difficult to detect.
Historically, anti-spyware vendors had relied on the Internet user community's reports about new spyware.
This reactive approach has been evolving and with the introduction of the Phileas system and converted into a fully proactive discovery approach where companies use sophisticated software to collect information about new spyware on their own.
