geekhack
geekhack Community => Off Topic => Topic started by: tp4tissue on Wed, 16 March 2022, 11:18:56
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Now Tp4 @ maximum paranoid...
Who do we trust ?
(https://i.imgur.com/rzEkOCY.jpg)
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Not Russian software.
Did you miss the memo that the Cold War was never over?
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It's not just <the R|> software.
It calls into question ANY large corporate antivirus.
Is avast/ norton safe ?
Do we really know who's behind the inner trapworks of any of these softwares?
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Do we really know who's behind
TP4 is mistrustful?
Who knew?
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Trust just seems untenable.
We've used malwarebytes since we were kids, but it's not the same people working there, any corporation/ gov agency could easily imbed agents into their core developers.
How in this world of floating allegiances are we to stand behind ANYONE who purports to be The Police. ??
The police does not protect the people, they protect INTERESTS.
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are we to stand
They ("They") are hoping that people just check out altogether.
Choosing the lesser of two evils is a duty and an imperative.
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It's not just <the R|> software.
It calls into question ANY large corporate antivirus.
Is avast/ norton safe ?
Do we really know who's behind the inner trapworks of any of these softwares?
kaspersky never was russian, and is now owned by intel if i remember correctly (fact check this before reuse pls, too lazy 18h after i woke up :))
Avast has not been safe for years, well i have not really checked recently but they used to include a keylogger to "check if your password are safe".
I actually do not remember anything bad said about the security of norton, just that like kaspersky it was force fed to way too many and that it is far from the best, but not actively malware.
and frankly, i am pretty sure you are using Chrome (or worst maybe Edge) on Windows, soooo your AV is the least of your security hole/spy problem.
if you want an opensource AV there exist ClamWin, it is one of the worst at detection of malware as it was designed as a mail scanning tool but it is better than nothing, and you can know exactly what it does.
and if you are really paranoiac, go to debian linux (default without binary firmware) with firefox and apparmor, or Qubes OS (this one is one level above paranoia, every program get isolated in its own LXC/VM a la Android++), or other purist linux distros.
(disclaimer: i am personally a linux user so my views are a bit skewed on the windows vs linux subject, although i am not a purist and do run blobs and firmwares because easy :) and understand that windows have a use, just it is not universal)
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It's not that Norton and such are bad it's they all try to do too many things (and often been snakes themselves).
None are just an anti-virus or anti-malware anymore, they all want password protection, firewall, live scanning, serve ads, drain resources, etc... I get why people like Defender even if it's garbage, it's free and stays out of their way. The problem isn't how well Defender works but the fact that it's baked in. Besides being just another part of the OS (meaning it's as much a target as the OS), what does it say when you bake in the A/V because you can't properly patch the system in the first place?
Think of computer security like home security, it has layers, cameras, door locks, safe doors, etc... Security is about delaying and making them seek an easier target. Using an alternate anti-malware makes you a smaller, more difficult target even if the anti-malware isn't as good. Larger, softer targets are always preferred. Security through obscurity isn't security but obscurity can be a valid part of your defense, it just can't be all of it.
I wouldn't use Clamware on Windows, it's best use is on Mac/Linux on a mixed network to keep the Windows users safe from users who can get away with almost anything.
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Llann uses avast yes ?
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Llann uses avast yes ?
It depends...
If I know a customer is a basic user, I'll just use Defender, it's easier for me and them and already installed. If they are going to probably do things they shouldn't then I'll put something else in, usually Avast (which I actually despise).
I used to put AVG on everything until one day I told it to ignore a file, it did not. I then I told it to shutdown and instead of doing so it just merely shutdown the front end and ran in the background and quarantined the file again. After messing around for a bit and going around and around and even going so far as to shutdown the service I eventually had to uninstall the AV in order to get the file to run then reinstall the AV. This was why I moved everyone off AVG for Avast, who later pulled the same stunt, and that was the end of that. Luckily by that time Defender had finally reached maturity enough and viruses were less a threat so it no longer mattered. I get it, the average person doesn't know better but when I tell it to stop I expect it to. I'm also of the opinion that my AV has no business looking for pirated software much less lying to me and claiming something is infected merely because it thinks me or a customer is pirating something. I'm not there to go looking for trouble other than computer troubles, I mind my business and I don't need it breaking things that are already functioning and this can do that.
That may seem counter intuitive to what I initially wrote, yes, Avast is a hassle for me but it means it's also going to be a problem for little Johnny who tried to download Photoshop and disables the AV and it stays running and protecting the system. Sucks to be Johnny but Johnny doesn't pay me to keep mommy and daddy's computer safe, so in situations without a "little Johnny", Defender is preferred.
As for myself though...
All of my (few) Windows boxes are exclusively used for gaming, media or file serving, they almost never interact with the outside world other than Steam and Google, they never execute random files, frankly, if they didn't need networking, I'd just disable it and air gap them. The only systems accessing the outside and executing files are Linux and Mac systems, this makes it extremely difficult and unlikely that Windows can be infected so I don't really bother. They do have Defender but everything but the OS is white listed, so if anything were to get in, it would find it but it never scans anything else.
Keep in mind, this is an edge use-case, if you use Windows to access things online you need protection.