Patent ID: 8813230

Claim:
A method comprising: monitoring, by a kernel mode driver of a computer system, a set of events occurring within one or more of a file system accessible by the computer system and an operating system that manages resources of the computer system; responsive to observation, by the kernel mode driver, of an event of the set of events performed by or initiated by an active process running on the computer system, wherein the active process corresponds to a first code module stored within the file system and the event relates to a second code module stored within the file system, determining an identity or type of the first code module; based on the determined identity or type of the first code module, the kernel mode driver, selectively performing or bypassing a real-time authentication process on the second code module with reference to a whitelist containing cryptographic hash values of approved code modules, which are known not to contain viruses or malicious code; and allowing the active process to load the second code module into a memory of the computer system (i) when the real-time authentication process is bypassed or (ii) when the real-time authentication process is performed and determines a cryptographic hash value of the code module matches one of the cryptographic hash values of approved code modules within the whitelist.