July 23, 2018 • 6 mins
A company named Cylance is taking a different approach to it's antivirus software. It uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to actually know the difference between a good and bad file.More information:https://ktla.com/2018/07/23/cylance-antivirus-review-artificial-intelligence/Cylance Smart Antivirus:https://shop.cylance.com/usFollow Rich on Social Media:Facebook: http://facebook.com/RichOnTechTwitter: http://twitter.com/richdemuroInstagram: http://instagram.com/richontechEasy ways to listen on your phone or smart speaker:"Hey Google, Play the Rich on Tech Podcast""Hey Siri, Play the Rich on Tech Podcast""Alexa, Enable the Rich on Tech Flash Briefing"
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
New antivirus software that's taking a different approach.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
What's going on, imrich Demiro. This is rich on Tech.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
For years, antivirus software has worked in pretty much the
same way. Companies find viruses and malware that identify their
key characteristics, then they add them to their list of definitions.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Antivirus software on your home.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Computer gets that list of updated definitions, then it checks
the files on your computer.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Against those lists.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
The problem is, if an app hasn't seen a particular
virus or malware, it could be pretty ineffective against it.
Now a new company named Silance I've recently met with.
They're taking a totally different approach. They are literally teaching
their anti virus software to be smart. Thanks to artificial
intelligence and machine learning, it can spot a bad file
even if it's never.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Seen it before. Yes, it is really cool.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
I went over to their headquarters in Irvine, California and
talked to Christopher Bray. He is the head of their
new consumer division.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
The threats have increased exponentially. Back in the early days,
I think we all remember the Melissa viruses. In the
early two thousands, we had a handful of new unknown
malicious software released monthly. These days, We've got three hundred
and fifty thousand pieces of malicious software being released daily,
new malicious software, and it doesn't discriminate. It'll attack companies,
(01:21):
it'll attack individuals. It's largely driven by financial motivations. It's
crime driven. Back in the old days, people who used
to write malicious software, we're kids who are looking for
digital bragging rights. It was the equivalent of breaking a window.
Today it's evolved to very, very sophisticated organizations that hire
(01:44):
the best and brightest and write software that surreptitiously compromises
your identity, steals your credentials, ransoms your system any way
that they can get money out of you.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Silence literally teaches their software, so they feed their all
kinds of good and bad files so they can understand
the differences between them.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
We take what we call a proactive approach, which means
we don't need to rely on updates or getting actual
copies of the malicious software to write a fix for it. Rather,
we use the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning
in order to identify good and bad software before it
even has an opportunity to run.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
They gave me a demo of just how powerful their
software can be. So we did the same scenario twice.
First we clicked on an infected attachment on an unprotected
computer and we saw ransomware take over the entire screen.
Then we clicked on the same exact attachment on a
computer that had the Silent software on it, and Silence
literally stopped the ransomware before it had any opportunity to act.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
You know, a common attract vector is phishing emails. So
you'll get an email from someone that you trust, maybe
it's your bank, maybe it's a friend, and it's got
an innocuous document that's attached to.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
It asks you to double click.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
You do that, and all of a sudden, you've just
unleashed some sort of malicious.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
Software like ransomware.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
So if you're running a Silence entivirus, the minute you
double click on that malicious attachment, it does a split
second assessment is this good or is it bad? And
if it's bad, it'll throw it into quarantine right away,
preventing it from running it all.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Now you might be thinking, can't any old antivirus software
do this? Possibly, yes, But the difference here is that
Silence can understand whether a file is good or bad.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
That means even if.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Nobody's ever seen it before, or if it's totally undiscovered,
Silence can still stop it.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
You know, this algorithm that we feed billions and billions
of samples of good software and bad software, and through
machine learning and AI, we train it and it gets
more and more refined with time, and then the output
of that algorithm is the software that we actually put
on people's desktops.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
And what's cool about it is.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
It doesn't need to connect to any server or cloud
in order to protect you. It it encapsulates all the
learning that in that application.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Now, I've been running Silence on my Mac computer to
try it out, and I got to say, I am impressed.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
It's small, the app is lightweight.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
It kind of stays tucked away in the background until
it needs to spring into action, which, by the way,
so far it hasn't had to on my computer. But
this is on a lot of other anti virus programs,
even the ones that I've installed on my Mac, They're
constantly nagging you to do a system scan, update their files,
or they just in general hog your system resources.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
We've been around for approximately six years.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
We started in the business space and have been very
successful in that space and quite disruptive, and our plan
is to replicate that in the consumer space and offer
consumers a fresh alternative to the commonly perceived system slowing.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
Pop up riddled user experience.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
A lot of users have soured on what they've seen
in the industry. A lot of vendors will do They'll
offer a firesale price for the first year, and then
they get surprise on an auto renewal for a much
higher price.
Speaker 4 (05:08):
We take a completely different approach.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
We're very transparent in our pricing and we say, look,
if you sign up for two years, then you'll get
a benefit, and if you do the math, our two
year price actually works out to be better than a
lot of our competitors.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Silance Smart antivirus software as it's called, starts at thirty
dollars a year. My pick is the five or ten
pack of licenses. This can protect all the computers in
your household. Two years of protection runs eighty or one
hundred dollars, which is a pretty good value when you
think about the flip side of having to deal with
some sort of ransomware mess And I really have no
doubt that AI and machine learning will be the model
(05:43):
for computer protection going forward. Silance is just one of
those companies at the forefront of it right now. If
you want to learn more, you can go to my
website For a link, it's Rich on tech dot TV.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Thanks so much for listening. I'm Rich Demiro. I'll talk
to you real service
New antivirus software that's taking a different approach.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
What's going on, imrich Demiro. This is rich on Tech.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
For years, antivirus software has worked in pretty much the
same way. Companies find viruses and malware that identify their
key characteristics, then they add them to their list of definitions.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Antivirus software on your home.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Computer gets that list of updated definitions, then it checks
the files on your computer.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Against those lists.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
The problem is, if an app hasn't seen a particular
virus or malware, it could be pretty ineffective against it.
Now a new company named Silance I've recently met with.
They're taking a totally different approach. They are literally teaching
their anti virus software to be smart. Thanks to artificial
intelligence and machine learning, it can spot a bad file
even if it's never.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Seen it before. Yes, it is really cool.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
I went over to their headquarters in Irvine, California and
talked to Christopher Bray. He is the head of their
new consumer division.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
The threats have increased exponentially. Back in the early days,
I think we all remember the Melissa viruses. In the
early two thousands, we had a handful of new unknown
malicious software released monthly. These days, We've got three hundred
and fifty thousand pieces of malicious software being released daily,
new malicious software, and it doesn't discriminate. It'll attack companies,
(01:21):
it'll attack individuals. It's largely driven by financial motivations. It's
crime driven. Back in the old days, people who used
to write malicious software, we're kids who are looking for
digital bragging rights. It was the equivalent of breaking a window.
Today it's evolved to very, very sophisticated organizations that hire
(01:44):
the best and brightest and write software that surreptitiously compromises
your identity, steals your credentials, ransoms your system any way
that they can get money out of you.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Silence literally teaches their software, so they feed their all
kinds of good and bad files so they can understand
the differences between them.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
We take what we call a proactive approach, which means
we don't need to rely on updates or getting actual
copies of the malicious software to write a fix for it. Rather,
we use the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning
in order to identify good and bad software before it
even has an opportunity to run.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
They gave me a demo of just how powerful their
software can be. So we did the same scenario twice.
First we clicked on an infected attachment on an unprotected
computer and we saw ransomware take over the entire screen.
Then we clicked on the same exact attachment on a
computer that had the Silent software on it, and Silence
literally stopped the ransomware before it had any opportunity to act.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
You know, a common attract vector is phishing emails. So
you'll get an email from someone that you trust, maybe
it's your bank, maybe it's a friend, and it's got
an innocuous document that's attached to.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
It asks you to double click.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
You do that, and all of a sudden, you've just
unleashed some sort of malicious.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
Software like ransomware.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
So if you're running a Silence entivirus, the minute you
double click on that malicious attachment, it does a split
second assessment is this good or is it bad? And
if it's bad, it'll throw it into quarantine right away,
preventing it from running it all.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Now you might be thinking, can't any old antivirus software
do this? Possibly, yes, But the difference here is that
Silence can understand whether a file is good or bad.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
That means even if.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Nobody's ever seen it before, or if it's totally undiscovered,
Silence can still stop it.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
You know, this algorithm that we feed billions and billions
of samples of good software and bad software, and through
machine learning and AI, we train it and it gets
more and more refined with time, and then the output
of that algorithm is the software that we actually put
on people's desktops.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
And what's cool about it is.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
It doesn't need to connect to any server or cloud
in order to protect you. It it encapsulates all the
learning that in that application.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Now, I've been running Silence on my Mac computer to
try it out, and I got to say, I am impressed.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
It's small, the app is lightweight.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
It kind of stays tucked away in the background until
it needs to spring into action, which, by the way,
so far it hasn't had to on my computer. But
this is on a lot of other anti virus programs,
even the ones that I've installed on my Mac, They're
constantly nagging you to do a system scan, update their files,
or they just in general hog your system resources.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
We've been around for approximately six years.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
We started in the business space and have been very
successful in that space and quite disruptive, and our plan
is to replicate that in the consumer space and offer
consumers a fresh alternative to the commonly perceived system slowing.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
Pop up riddled user experience.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
A lot of users have soured on what they've seen
in the industry. A lot of vendors will do They'll
offer a firesale price for the first year, and then
they get surprise on an auto renewal for a much
higher price.
Speaker 4 (05:08):
We take a completely different approach.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
We're very transparent in our pricing and we say, look,
if you sign up for two years, then you'll get
a benefit, and if you do the math, our two
year price actually works out to be better than a
lot of our competitors.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Silance Smart antivirus software as it's called, starts at thirty
dollars a year. My pick is the five or ten
pack of licenses. This can protect all the computers in
your household. Two years of protection runs eighty or one
hundred dollars, which is a pretty good value when you
think about the flip side of having to deal with
some sort of ransomware mess And I really have no
doubt that AI and machine learning will be the model
(05:43):
for computer protection going forward. Silance is just one of
those companies at the forefront of it right now. If
you want to learn more, you can go to my
website For a link, it's Rich on tech dot TV.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Thanks so much for listening. I'm Rich Demiro. I'll talk
to you real service
Host
Rich DeMuro
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