Patent ID: 8826431

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of providing malicious software (malware) definitions to clients, comprising: receiving, at a computer processor, telemetry data from a plurality of clients, the telemetry data describing files created on the clients; analyzing, by the computer processor, the telemetry data to identify malware that is currently spreading among the plurality of clients, the analyzing comprising: determining a size of a malware definition in a set of malware definitions; and considering the size of the malware definition in a determination of whether malware associated with the malware definition is currently spreading; segmenting, by the computer processor, the set of malware definitions into a set of local malware definitions responsive to the analysis of the telemetry data, the set of local malware definitions including malware definitions for malware identified as currently spreading among the plurality of clients; and providing, by the computer processor, the set of local malware definitions to the plurality of clients, wherein the plurality of clients are adapted to store the local malware definitions and use the set of local malware definitions to detect malware at the clients.