Next-generation antivirus (NGAV) is a new breed of software that was created to bridge the gap left by traditional antivirus.

What exactly constitutes NGAV in the cybersecurity industry is still unclear since there’s not a widely-accepted definition for the term. At a minimum, next-generation antivirus products need to go beyond performing signature-based detection while also incorporating some type of advanced technology.

Most NGAVs go beyond the use of indicators of compromise (IOCs) and metadata such as virus signatures, IP addresses, file hashes, and URLs. Using technologies like advanced data science, machine learning, artificial intelligence and data analytics, next-generation antivirus solutions look for patterns of behavior used by attackers to discover tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs).