1. 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; in connection with said monitoring, 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, performing or bypassing a real-time authentication process on the second code module with reference to a whitelist containing content authenticators of approved code modules, which are known not to contain viruses or malicious code; allowing, by the kernel mode driver, 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 content authenticator of the code module matches one of the content authenticators of approved code modules within the whitelist; and preventing, by the kernel mode driver, the active process from loading the second code module into the memory when the real-time authentication process is performed and determines the content authenticator does not match any of the content authenticators of approved code modules within the whitelist.