Reputation-Based Security

Definition - What does Reputation-Based Security mean?

Reputation-based security is a security mechanism that classifies a file as safe or unsafe based on its inherently garnered reputation. This makes it possible to identify and predict file safety, based on its overall use and reputation over a wide community of users. It was first conceived as part of the Norton Internet Security 2010 software suite.

Techopedia explains Reputation-Based Security

Reputation-based security is primarily used within anti-virus, anti-malware or information security (IS) software. Typically, reputation-based security is implemented on executable files, batch files and other file formats that are subject to carrying unsafe code. It works by collecting and tracking several attributes of a file, such as age, source, signature and overall usage statistics across thousands of users consuming that file. The data is than analyzed within a reputation engine using algorithms and statistical analysis.