Norton has officially ditched its own antivirus scanning engine in favor of the Avast scan engine, reducing diversity in the anti-malware market.
The antivirus' parent company, Gen Digital, confirmed the move, which puts another nail in the coffin of antivirus engine variants.
According to AV-Comparatives, a well-known testing organization, this change means there will be one less unique detection mechanism on the market.
The market has been consolidating for several years. Avast bought AVG in 2016, merging and shrinking teams before being acquired by Norton (now Gen Digital Inc.) in 2021.
Now that Norton has adopted the Avast scan engine, Gen Digital effectively controls several major antivirus products, including Avira, Avast, and Norton. So much for variation.
AV-Comparatives notices several signs of an engine merger. Norton's virus definition and core process folder structures have become similar or identical to those of Avast.
Both products share a single file, aswEngSrv.exe. Norton even includes references to Avast domains in an .ini file in its virus definitions directory. Subtlety appears to be irrelevant in this context.
A Gen Digital spokesperson stated that since the merger of NortonLifeLock and Avast in 2022, the company has aimed to “closely link the products” of these “industry leaders” to provide a “better and more personalized experience.
To put it bluntly, users have fewer choices but more control.
This change is not merely a technicality. When antivirus engines disappear, so do their particular detection abilities.
Malware that the now-defunct technology may have detected could slip through the cracks.
Fewer scanning engines result in less diversity in malware detection methods, potentially increasing the risk of malware going undetected.
The antivirus market is not only becoming less diverse, but also more centralized.
The majority of antivirus solutions are controlled by major players such as Gen Digital, Microsoft (via Defender), and a few others
According to Josef Pichlmayr, CEO of Austrian antivirus manufacturer Ikarus, the consolidation has had a negative impact on the diversity of detection rates.
Many European IT security companies have been sold off or absorbed, leaving only a few.
Despite this, Europe still has some strong antivirus products, including Eset, Bitdefender, and WithSecure (formerly F-Secure).
However, in the EDR sector, the picture is even bleaker, with only HarfangLab from France competing against an overwhelming number of US providers.