Items tagged with Antivirus
As it goes, crime never pays, and neither does pirating software, as some people on the internet have come to find out. In the last year, there have been reports that popular antivirus programs, like Avast, disappeared from users’ computers. Researchers at the Czech company found that this activity was tied to a new malware called “Crackonosh,” which comes bundled with illegally downloaded copies of popular software. Among many other people, Reddit user /u/Well-oh-well reported that a new Windows 10 laptop booted with an error, restarted, and then came back as normal. After that, however, the “Avast Antivirus shortcut icon was blank and sure enough the avast folder in...
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Security researchers have discovered a way to thwart almost every antivirus program using a "unique but simple method" involving directly junctions and symlinks. Antivirus software that falls prey to this kind of attack essentially attack themselves by deleting files critical to the program's operation, leaving users vulnerable. According to the researchers, this method works because of a fundamental flaw in how antivirus software performs real-time scans of unknown files. Almost all of them run in a privileged state, or the highest level of authority on an operating system. "What most antivirus software fail to take into consideration is the small window of time between the initial file scan...
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Microsoft officially ended support for Windows 7 on January 14th. The company has urged users to update to Windows 10 as soon as possible, but many are still clinging to Windows 7. Fortunately for die-hard Windows 7 fans, several antivirus companies and browser manufacturers will continue to offer support to Windows 7 users for a few years. It is not unusual for antivirus companies and browser manufacturers to continue to pledge support for OS systems that have been phased out. Google recently announced that it will continue to offer Chrome security updates until at least 2021. McAfee stated that it will provide support to Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008/2008 R2 until December 31, 2021. They...
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Avast is a well-known company that sells antivirus software, and provides free versions for Windows and macOS platforms. However, the company has come under fire in recent months due to a browser extension that was found to be sending user data to third-party marketing firms. At the time, Avast reassured users that their data was "fully de-identified and aggregated" during this process. However, an investigation by Motherboard and PCMag has uncovered that Avast is bending at the truth a bit, as it's relatively easy for marketers to build a profile on individuals, their purchase habits, and their browser click history. All of this trickery stems from Avast subsidiary Jumpshot,...
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Security firm Kaspersky Lab has filed an antitrust complaint against Apple in Russia over recent restrictions placed on the company's Kaspersky Safe Kids app for iOS. According to Kaspersky, Apple only decided to place additional restrictions on the app after announcing its own Screen Time feature as part of iOS 12, essentially putting it in competition with third-party parental control software. In a blog post on the subject, Kaspersky Lab says Apple had no issue with its app for the past three years. Now, however, Apple has blocked the app because it does not meet the requirements of paragraph 2.5.1 of the guidelines for apps hosted in the App Store. "It turned out that, according to Apple,...
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Bloatware has unfortunately become a fact of life when it comes to many of the electronic devices that we purchase these days. Chances are if you buy a PC or carrier-locked smartphone, it will come preinstalled with bloatware that -- 99 percent of the time -- you won’t even need or use. Samsung and McAfee have just announced a partnership that will see the firm's security/antivirus suite preinstalled on the brand new Galaxy S10 family of smartphones. While that move is somewhat expected (but mostly unnecessary) these days for an Android phone that will see its fair share of app downloads, the partnership also extends to Samsung Smart TVs. Wait, what??That's right, all of Samsung's...
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It's not common to find free software that appears to be as feature-rich and capable as the commercial competition, but where Windows Defender is concerned, it's arguably one of the best free antivirus and anti-malware solutions out there. Many have come to trust it so much, that they don't even run an additional anti-virus solution, and Microsoft takes that responsibility seriously by constantly iterating on the software's capabilities. In a brand-new Windows Insider build, a massive overhaul of Defender can be found. After years of figuring out the best direction to take Defender, Microsoft decided that implementing sandboxes was the only reasonable route, a technique we've seen used in many...
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Microsoft has not seen a ton of issues rolling out its April 2018 Update for Windows 10, though there have been some snags along the way, prompting the company to block the update on some machines. We saw that recently when Microsoft halted the update to machines running an Intel SSD 600p or SSD Pro 6000 series drive until a fix could be issued, and now we're seeing it again, this time on systems running Avast's antivirus software. Over on Reddit, it's noted that several Avast users have experienced trouble trying to install the update. Affected systems would boot to a blue screen asking the user to choose a keyboard language, after doing so, they would be presented with three options—Windows...
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A popular antivirus vendor is at odds with the United States government over ties with Russia, and things have turned ugly. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a government ban on any and all Kaspersky software, giving civilian government agencies 90 days to remove Kaspersky software completely from their networks. In response, Kaspersky has filed a lawsuit against DHS, claiming the ban was unjustified. DHS issued the ban over concerns of Russian interference, and fear that Kaspersky might be colluding with Russia to spy on US intelligence agencies. The ban and subsequent lawsuit follows an investigation by the FBI earlier this summer, which resulted in the agency advising companies...
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Kaspersky just lost a major customer. Best Buy, the largest electronics retailer in the United States, is yanking Kaspersky's security products off its brick-and-mortar and online store shelves. While Kaspersky has traditionally been one of the most well regarded developers of security software for PCs and mobile devices, more recently some have voiced concerns over the company's potential ties with the Russian government. It is not clear what exactly was the straw that broke the camel in this case. Best Buy may have been spooked by numerous media reports covering the topic, or it could have been a congressional investigation that swayed the electronics chain. Just last month, the Federal Bureau...
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Antivirus maker Kaspersky Lab may have kissed and made up with Microsoft over a dispute in how Windows 10 handles third-party AV software, but even so companies are reportedly being warned not to use the security software. The warning comes from the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), according to CyberScoop, which says it spoke with both current and former senior US officials who are familiar with the matter. The perceived threat is a familiar one in the software industry—government spying. In this case, Kaspersky Lab is headquartered in Moscow, Russia. Apparently US intelligence officials have long suspected that Russian spy agencies have been gathering intelligence on a global...
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After putting legal pressure on Microsoft to provide antivirus vendors with additional time to test their software prior to new Windows 10 builds being rolled out, security outfit Kaspersky is getting its way. Microsoft announced in a blog post that it has agreed to certain changes in the way it handles third-party AV software, which will be implemented in the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. "We work closely with AV partners like Kaspersky Lab, and at our Microsoft Virus Initiative forum last month, we made great progress in building upon our shared understanding of how we deliver Windows 10 updates and security experiences that help ensure the ongoing safety of Windows customers... As a result,...
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Computer security has always been somewhat of a hot topic, though it has intensified in recent weeks in the wake of the global WannaCry ransomware outbreak. In response, Microsoft has issued a series of updates to Windows, including legacy versions no longer supported such as Windows XP and Windows Vista. Microsoft also used the heightened focus on PC security as an opportunity to explain its stance on antivirus software and how Windows 10 handles third-party AV programs. You might recall that Kaspersky, one of the more popular third-party security outfits, took Microsoft to task over the way Windows 10 prioritizes its own built-in Windows Defender software over alternative AV solutions. Kaspersky...
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The folks at Kaspersky, one of the biggest antivirus companies on the planet, are not too pleased with Microsoft's recent Windows design cues. Last year, the company filed a complaint against the Redmond company with Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), and recently, it did the same thing in Europe. Any mention of Windows and "monopoly" make this complaint easy to figure out without even looking at it. Kaspersky has a beef with how Microsoft promotes the use of its Defender antivirus / anti-malware app over third-party solutions. One issue in particular is how Windows acts as a bit of a roadblock when a third-party antivirus application is installed, giving a modest warning of "You should...
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Security researchers at Cybellum, a PC security firm in Tel Aviv, Israel, have discovered a rather nasty new zero-day attack that allows remote attackers to hijack popular antivirus programs and turn them into malicious agents. The technique is called DoubleAgent, named after the fact that a compromised antivirus agent might give the illusion that it's protecting a PC when it's actually installing malware. "DoubleAgent exploits a 15 year old vulnerability which works on all versions of Microsoft Windows, starting from Windows XP right up to the latest release of Windows 10. The sad, but plain fact is that the vulnerability is yet to be patched by most of the antivirus vendors and could be used...
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Microsoft has a long and somewhat bumpy road in the antivirus field. Even its latest AV solution, Windows Defender, has not always garnered praise, though that is beginning to change. A recent blog post by a security expert who heaped praise on the default security software in Windows has prompted others to come out and speak in favor of using Windows Defender instead of a third-party solution. "At best, there is negligible evidence that major non-MS AV products give a net improvement in security. More likely, they hurt security significantly; for example, see bugs in AV products listed in Google's Project Zero. These bugs indicate that not only do these products open many attack vectors, but...
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Third-party antivirus developers aren't happy with the way Windows 10 seemingly goes to great lengths to kick AV programs to the curb in favor of Microsoft's own built-in Defender software, and that has led to an antitrust investigation in Russia. Among the various complaints, the Russian antitrust authority will see if Microsoft abused its position of dominance by rushing the OS to market. Russia's antitrust suit echos the complaints Eugene Kaspsersky shared in a lengthy blog post blasting Microsoft for how it treats Defender versus third-party AV programs. Kaspersky, who is the CEO of Kaspersky Lab in Russia, said his feelings on the matter are shared throughout the security industry but most...
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Cybersecurity expert Eugene Kaspersky just channeled his inner Howard Beale to let Microsoft know he's mad as hell and isn't going to take it anymore. If that reference is too old, we can kick things up a decade to Twisted Sister, as all that's missing from his strongly worded and scathing blog post calling out Microsoft for unfairly favoring its own Defender antivirus software over third-party solutions is the 1980s band's hit song playing in the background. While Eugene himself doesn't bring this up, there are quite a few parallels between the song "We're Not Gonna Take It" and his message to Microsoft. Let's start with the very first verse following the opening chorus. We've got the right...
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AVG has long been considered one of the so called good guys in security software. It drew fan support for offering a no cost version of its antivirus software, which traditionally has worked quite well, but its reputation as a champion of the average Joe is now in jeopardy over a revised privacy policy. As part of the new single-page privacy policy, AVG explains that it may collect and sell non-personal data to third parties. Such data might include a user's browsing and search history (including meta data) so that AVG can "make money from our free offerings" and "keep them free." This kind of honest transparency can be unsettling, though in AVG's defense, this is the type of thing that many...
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It's said that real life is sometimes stranger than fiction, and that couldn't be any more truer when it comes to John McAfee, a former programmer for NASA and founder of McAfee Associates, a computer antivirus company that's now owned by Intel. His story contains drugs, an unsolved murder investigation, foreign government conspiracies, and even a faked heart attack, some of which he'll discuss during a Dateline NBC special titled "The Fugitive Millionaire" that's set to air on Thursday, March 26 at 8pm/7c. We have the inside scoop. NBC Universal provided HotHardware with a few excerpts of the interview, which cover his troubles in Belize and his new company Future Tense. With regards to the...
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Recent years have seen software publishers increasingly moving from boxed software to a subscription model. Adobe moved its famous Photoshop software and related programs to the subscription-based Creative Cloud in 2012 and hasn’t looked back. Microsoft still offers boxed versions of its Office software, but it has been heavily promoting the Office 365 subscriptions. Now, Symantec is heading to the subscription model with its flagship Norton computer security products. The new Norton Security pulls multiple Norton products into a single subscription that will run you about $80 per year. Symantec is pulling its array of security products into a subscription meant to protect all your devices,...
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Symantec, which has been making antivirus products for decades (including Norton, the first piece of software most people would try to remove from a new PC), is getting out of the antivirus game, sort of. Brian Dye, Symantec's senior vice president for information security, told the Wall Street Journal that in Synamtec’s view, antivirus is dead. "We don't think of antivirus as a moneymaker in any way," he stated. That doesn't mean the company is completely abandoning Norton, but it is heading in a new direction. Basically, instead of primarily focusing on keeping the walls secure, Symantec is more interested in what to do when (not if) cybercriminals break through. In a year, this will...
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