The Dangers of Having Anti-Virus

[WildWestDesigns]

And it's a shame, I actually used this software a few yrs ago.

There are pros and cons with using anti-virus software apparently. I never really thought of it as an attack vector, but if you think about it, in most instances it has super user (or root) abilities and it does send back telemetry.

Just food for thought.

 

[Johnny Best]

I use Avast, it is from Elbonia. Seems pretty good.

 

[bannertime]

You'll never be able to prevent an attack or intrusion from someone that's dedicated. You can use tools like anti-virus, ad blockers, and malware scanners to prevent attempted attacks and intrusions from attackers looking for an easy victim. The people with the skill set to backdoor a cyber security firm would stomp over general public. Like an Equifax breach. This applies to all aspects of life.

There is a decent part of the cyber adept that audit software for security flaws. Most of the time, the company acknowledges the issue and releases a timely update. Some times they don't, like when Google outed an Windows 8.1 flaw that Microsoft took too long to fix. As long as you use a reputable software, you'll be fine.... that is until it's not fine, but it'd probably be too late.

 

[Solventinkjet]

For the last 8 years I have run my personal and business computers without any anti virus except for the windows defender that is built into Windows. I also run a Malwarebytes scan once a week. I have not had a virus once in that time. 3rd party anti virus is a scam and it slows down your computer. Just don't click on suspect links and learn what a phishing email looks like and you are already going to be safe most of the time.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

You'll never be able to prevent an attack or intrusion from someone that's dedicated. You can use tools like anti-virus, ad blockers, and malware scanners to prevent attempted attacks and intrusions from attackers looking for an easy victim. The people with the skill set to backdoor a cyber security firm would stomp over general public. Like an Equifax breach. This applies to all aspects of life.

Not quite, the Equifax breach is actually somewhat worse in the fact that they left themselves open to an attack. Not only that, but I believe that while they did have encrypted files, they had the keys to undo the encryption very close by, if not in the same area.

Also bare in mind that there is this push in a lot of governments to start mandated back doors in OSs and software.

There is a decent part of the cyber adept that audit software for security flaws. Most of the time, the company acknowledges the issue and releases a timely update. Some times they don't, like when Google outed an Windows 8.1 flaw that Microsoft took too long to fix. As long as you use a reputable software, you'll be fine.... that is until it's not fine, but it'd probably be too late.

MS has been pushing Win 10 now, this is just a passive aggressive way to get people to move forward.

Again, if people get their way with mandated back doors, all this is for naught.

For the last 8 years I have run my personal and business computers without any anti virus except for the windows defender that is built into Windows. I also run a Malwarebytes scan once a week. I have not had a virus once in that time. 3rd party anti virus is a scam and it slows down your computer. Just don't click on suspect links and learn what a phishing email looks like and you are already going to be safe most of the time.

Be very aware that not every bit of malicious code is designed to be obvious, some are very low key and may not even know that they are running.

Here is the thing too, attackers now aren't going to so much for the computer as much as the network itself. So even if your computer is protected, everything else along your network may not be and that's where they will get you. From there, they can direct your traffic how they like and you may never know.

 

[Gino]

Well, they're attacking right now. Have ya seen the first few pages. Russia or India are at it, again.

Back to work, until they get it fixed.

 

[Solventinkjet]

Here is the thing too, attackers now aren't going to so much for the computer as much as the network itself. So even if your computer is protected, everything else along your network may not be and that's where they will get you. From there, they can direct your traffic how they like and you may never know.

For sure. I have a physical firewall between my modem and router for that kind of attack.

 

[Dan360]

Tech security experts all rank anti-virus very low on the list of ways to protect yourself, most say the built in windows defender is plenty. Many anti-virus programs have had flaws exposed that allows people into computers running them. Anti-viruses won't catch new viruses because they don't appear in their classification banks and they can take a bit to get there. I haven't run anti-virus since the early 2000s because they are more peace of mind for people who don't understand how these things work.

The best things to do is keep your software up to date and learn to practice smart internet use habits.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

most say the built in windows defender is plenty.

I wouldn't. I have a tech friend that keeps a tally of bad things on people's computers that run just Windows Defender. I think it has gotten better, but I don't trust MS to keep things running good. Particularly when you consider the company has a whole has sacrificed security for convenience many times.

Now, I did have a gaming rig before I swapped it to Linux that I ran just for games, not connected to anything else for 5 yrs running Win 7 and he couldn't find anything.

As far as smart computing goes, that still only goes so far. There are other vectors of attack that don't have to attack a computer directly.

As far as keeping things patched, that's only as good as the patches that one is installing. And it really depends on what you are also patching/updating. Some devices that are just important to keep up to date aren't. Sometimes it's the users fault, sometimes it's the OEM's fault.

For sure. I have a physical firewall between my modem and router for that kind of attack.

We do too. Helps with not only that, but a whole lot of other things as well.