Does antivirus software for businesses still work, or does your organization need other protection?

For decades, antivirus software was treated as synonymous with endpoint security. Install it, keep it updated, and that's it: the organization was protected. This logic, valid in a much simpler threat landscape, has become dangerously insufficient. 

The current situation is radically different: according to research by Control DToday, there is an average of 560 new malware variants per day, and the total number of malicious programs in circulation will exceed 1,3 billion by 2026. Moreover, the nature of attacks has changed structurally, and a growing portion of them are specifically designed to avoid detection by signature-based solutions.

This doesn't mean that antivirus software should be discarded. It means that it needs to be understood for what it truly is: a layer of defense with defined capabilities, known limitations, and a specific role within a broader security architecture. 

In this article, you will understand what antivirus software still does well, where it falls short, which technologies complement its protection, and how to define the most appropriate strategy for your company's environment.

What does antivirus software do well and why is it still relevant?

Antivirus software essentially operates by signature matching: it compares files and processes against a database of known threats and blocks what it recognizes as malicious. For this specific purpose, the technology remains effective. In independent tests conducted by AV-Comparatives throughout 2025, the evaluated products frequently showed detection rates exceeding 99% against known threats, with the best results achieved by solutions such as Bitdefender, ESET, Norton, and Kaspersky.

This effectiveness against cataloged threats has real value for businesses. Common malware, mass-distributed Trojans, corporate adware, and known ransomware variants continue to circulate in significant volumes, and the antivirus reliably blocks this category of threat with low consumption of computing resources. The problem lies in what it cannot see.

The antivirus market continues to grow, valued at... USD 4,72 billion, with projections to reach USD 8,45 billion by 2035. This growth, however, increasingly reflects the incorporation of additional layers of behavioral detection, machine learning, and integration with EDR platforms by the manufacturers themselves. The line between what was antivirus and what is an endpoint protection platform has become blurred, and understanding this distinction is the first step towards making more accurate security decisions.

Why doesn't antivirus software detect the most dangerous threats of 2026?

The central limitation of traditional antivirus software is structural: it only detects what it already knows. For this to work, the malicious file needs to exist on disk, have a cataloged signature, and be scanned before execution. Each of these assumptions is systematically circumvented by the most prevalent attack techniques today.

Fileless malware is the most representative example of this breach. Instead of writing an executable file to the hard drive, this type of attack injects code directly into RAM and operates through legitimate tools already installed on the system, such as PowerShell, WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation), and Rundll32. There is no file to scan. There is no signature to compare. By the end of 2024, fileless techniques accounted for approximately 70% of serious malware incidents, and conventional antivirus often fails to detect them because there is no disk artifact to identify.

The same logic applies to techniques known as Living off the Land (LotL), where the attacker operates exclusively with native operating system tools, the same ones used by IT administrators every day. ReliaQuest identified that 86,2% of critical incidents recorded in corporate environments involved fileless malware, frequently using LotL techniques that abuse legitimate Windows binaries such as Rundll32, Msiexec, and Mshta. For a signature-based antivirus, a legitimate operating system process executing malicious code is indistinguishable from a legitimate process performing a normal administrative task.

There are also zero-day attacks, which exploit unknown vulnerabilities before manufacturers release patches or security vendors develop detection signatures. Traditional antivirus software cannot identify attacks using compromised credentials, zero-day exploits, or lateral movements conducted with legitimate tools, since none of these vectors produces the malicious file that signature-based detection seeks.

According to Verizon 2025 DBIRThe exploitation of vulnerabilities as an initial access vector rose from approximately 3% to 22% of exploitation actions in a single year, a direct reflection of this expanding attack category.

What is EDR and why does it complement what antivirus software doesn't cover?

EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response) It was developed precisely to fill the gaps that antivirus software leaves uncovered. Instead of comparing files against a signature database, EDR continuously monitors the behavior of processes, network connections, system calls, and registry modifications across all endpoints, building a baseline of what is normal and identifying deviations that suggest malicious activity, even when the processes involved are legitimate.

When a PowerShell process starts making unusual network requests at 3 AM, or when an administrative tool starts accessing files outside its usual pattern, EDR identifies and alerts, something that antivirus software simply cannot do. 

More than just detecting, EDR also responds: it can automatically isolate a compromised endpoint from the network, terminate malicious processes, and revert unauthorized changes, significantly reducing the time between detection and containment. Companies with EDR implemented detect and contain breaches significantly faster, often reducing the attacker's time on the network by half compared to organizations that only use antivirus software.

The XDR (Extended Detection and Response) This model expands beyond endpoints. While EDR focuses specifically on endpoints, XDR extends coverage to email, identity, cloud workloads, and collaboration applications, correlating telemetry from all these sources on a unified platform. For organizations with hybrid environments, remote users, and data distributed across multiple platforms, XDR offers the level of visibility that today's complexity demands.

The adoption of these technologies is growing rapidly. EDR adoption nearly doubled between 2020 and 2025, according to industry data, and the positioning of... Gartner's forecast for endpoint protection in 2025 It confirms the layered approach, combining antivirus and EDR, as the recommended standard for medium and large-sized enterprises.

To understand how endpoint protection technologies integrate into the broader corporate security strategy, read: What security technologies are used in modern data centers?

The rise of AI attacks: a new layer of complexity.

The threat landscape of 2025 and 2026 has added a variable that amplifies all the limitations of conventional antivirus software: artificial intelligence on the attackers' side. Acronis Cyberthreats H2 2025 ReportA study published in February 2026, based on telemetry from over one million global endpoints, documents that 80% of Ransomware-as-a-Service vendors already advertise AI or automation features as differentiators for their criminal affiliates. This means that attacks that previously required advanced technical skill for customization and evasion of defenses are now automated and distributed at scale.

Um MIT study from 2025 With 2.800 incidents, it was identified that 80% of ransomware attacks used AI tools, from fraudulent deepfake calls to automatically generated phishing campaigns. The practical result is that malware variants that previously took weeks to develop are now generated in minutes, making the antivirus signature update cycle structurally insufficient to keep up with the pace. 

The appropriate response to this reality involves behavioral detection, real-time threat intelligence, and automated response capabilities—functionalities that fall within the domain of EDR and XDR, not conventional antivirus.

To understand how the most common security flaws create opportunities for this type of attack, also read: What are the most common security mistakes that put companies at risk of attacks?

Antivirus, NGAV, EDR, or XDR: what level of protection does your company need?

The choice between different endpoint protection layers is not a matter of technological preference, but of risk analysis, threat profile, and the operational capacity of the IT team.

Conventional antivirus software may be sufficient for very small organizations with few endpoints, primarily local operations, and low exposure to targeted attacks. It efficiently covers known threats with low operational overhead. NGAV (Next-Generation Antivirus), however, incorporates behavioral detection and machine learning, offering enhanced protection against emerging threats without requiring a dedicated security team to operate.

EDR is the recommended standard for mid-sized and larger companies, especially those with remote work environments, multiple endpoints, regulated data, or exposure to targeted attacks. It requires the ability to analyze and respond to alerts, either by an internal team or a managed service provider (MSSP). XDR represents the next level, suitable for organizations with distributed infrastructure, multi-cloud environments, and unified visibility requirements that extend beyond endpoints.

Regardless of the model chosen, the endpoint protection layer never operates in isolation within a mature corporate security strategy. It combines with access control, network segmentation, identity management, backup policies, and disaster recovery to form a defense in depth. The absence of any of these layers creates vectors that attackers systematically exploit. 

On our blog, we discuss how these strategies come together: see also what we explain about What is backup and how does it work in practice?since recovery capability is the last line of defense when preventative protection fails.

Frequently asked questions about endpoint protection for businesses.

Assessing the appropriate level of endpoint protection raises technical and strategic questions that don't have a single answer. The decision involves the organization's risk profile, the size of the IT team, the volume of sensitive data, and applicable regulatory requirements. The questions below address the most frequent concerns raised by our experts, with answers based on data and the latest best practices in the market.

Does corporate antivirus need to be replaced by EDR, or can it coexist with it?

The two technologies are not mutually exclusive. Antivirus software continues to play a legitimate role in detecting known threats with low computational overhead, and most EDR implementations maintain it as a complementary layer within the platform. The decision is not to replace antivirus software, but to ensure that it is not the only layer of defense. 

For organizations with sensitive data, remote work environments, or exposure to targeted attacks, EDR covers vectors that antivirus software structurally fails to address, such as fileless malware, lateral movement, and zero-day exploits. This layered approach, combining antivirus with EDR and access control policies, represents the technical standard recommended by Gartner for 2025.

What are fileless attacks and why doesn't antivirus software detect them?

Fileless malware is malware that runs entirely in the system's RAM, without writing files to the hard drive. It operates through legitimate operating system tools, such as PowerShell and WMI, injecting code into already running processes. Because there is no executable file on disk, conventional antivirus software, which works by scanning files for known malicious signatures, simply has nothing to detect. 

According to data from ReliaQuestIn 2023, 86,2% of critical incidents in corporate environments involved fileless malware, and this percentage continued to grow. Effective detection of these threats requires real-time behavioral analysis of processes, a capability that belongs to the domain of EDR, not antivirus.

Do small businesses also need EDR, or is antivirus software sufficient?

It depends on the exposure profile. Companies with few endpoints, local operations, no regulated data, and no remote access for employees can operate with antivirus software combined with good security hygiene practices. However, small and medium-sized enterprises have become increasingly frequent targets precisely because they are perceived by attackers as having weaker defenses than large corporations. 

According to Veeam's 2025 ransomware reportSmaller organizations have been disproportionately affected as criminal groups have shifted their focus from large targets to victims with less capacity to defend themselves. For companies with remote access, customer data, or any applicable industry regulation, NGAV or EDR managed by a specialized partner is the most suitable alternative.

What is XDR and when does it make sense for a company?

The XDR (Extended Detection and Response) It is an evolution of EDR that extends telemetry correlation beyond endpoints, integrating email, identity, cloud workloads, and collaboration applications data into a unified platform. This makes it possible to identify attacks that move between different surfaces, such as a phishing email that leads to the compromise of credentials that are then used for lateral movement across the network.

XDR makes sense for organizations with hybrid or multi-cloud environments, distributed remote teams, multiple SaaS platforms, and visibility and compliance requirements that demand a consolidated view of all threat vectors. For companies that don't have an internal security team to operate this platform, XDR managed by an MSSP offers the same level of protection without the need to hire their own SOC.

Strengthen your company's security with a company that has 22 years of experience.

Ayko designs and implements cybersecurity strategies aligned with the risk profile, size, and regulatory requirements of each client. Whether it's assessing the current environment, implementing an EDR or XDR solution, or structuring a layered security policy, the work always begins with a detailed analysis of the environment and the real exposure surfaces of your operation.

Get in touch with our experts and discover what level of endpoint protection makes sense for your company's reality.