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Kaspersky is declared a US national security threat and is banned by the FCC

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Re: Kaspersky is declared a US national security threat and is banned by the FCC

#51

Post by pjmlp »

binarymax wrote: post #39
the_snooze wrote: post #33

Is there any point in using antivirus these days anyway? I'm open to being wrong here, but I'm under the impression that antivirus exists only to tick boxes in outdated security compliance checklists. How big of a threat are viruses compared to, say, rogue antivirus products themselves?

It’s a good question for the Windows ecosystem, because it was absolutely necessary for Windows 7 and earlier, but I haven’t used later versions. I’ve been using Linux/Mac exclusively for the past 10 years and never even considered it.

Then you are lucky not to work in companies where IT security policies apply to everyone regardless of the OS being used.

Re: Kaspersky is declared a US national security threat and is banned by the FCC

#52

Post by hans1729 »

beamatronic wrote: post #44
hans1729 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a thing in big orgs, where macros are enabled in excel and employees can be tricked into opening mail attachments. Windows defender should suffice, but like you said, from a compliance/insurance perspective it may me valuable to say “look, we scanned for signatures according to the latest knowledge of [insert vendor]”. Personally I think that it’s ridiculous that these huge orgs fail to address the actual underl…

The class of risky employees should perhaps be limited to Chromebooks only.

Unfortunately I don’t think belittling these employees helps much here, especially considering how good a dedicated phisher can become at their craft.

Re: Kaspersky is declared a US national security threat and is banned by the FCC

#53

Post by d3ad1ysp0rk »

beamatronic wrote: post #44
hans1729 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a thing in big orgs, where macros are enabled in excel and employees can be tricked into opening mail attachments. Windows defender should suffice, but like you said, from a compliance/insurance perspective it may me valuable to say “look, we scanned for signatures according to the latest knowledge of [insert vendor]”. Personally I think that it’s ridiculous that these huge orgs fail to address the actual underl…

The class of risky employees should perhaps be limited to Chromebooks only.

CEOs?

Re: Kaspersky is declared a US national security threat and is banned by the FCC

#54

Post by Maursault »

Ok, let's cut the crap. Is Kaspersky a dirtbag or not? I suspect not, but it is an unfortunate accident he was born in and runs his company from Russia, the government of which is a dirtbag, so, correct me if I am wrong, Kaspersky must be a dirtbag by association, but especially for discovering Stuxnet. Believable, but I think the real reasons Kaspersky is persona non grata is due to having discovered Stuxnet, and Kaspersky Lab suspected of uncovering secret US cyberweapons in the future.

I am a patriot, but even I don't appreciate being lied to by my government. It would be good if the next best cyber security firm and software was half as good as Kaspersky's. But I suspect not.

Re: Kaspersky is declared a US national security threat and is banned by the FCC

#55

Post by henryw »

the_snooze wrote: post #33

Is there any point in using antivirus these days anyway? I'm open to being wrong here, but I'm under the impression that antivirus exists only to tick boxes in outdated security compliance checklists. How big of a threat are viruses compared to, say, rogue antivirus products themselves?

I'm wondering this too since Windows has built-in antivirus now. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/comprehensive-securi...

Re: Kaspersky is declared a US national security threat and is banned by the FCC

#56

Post by CWuestefeld »

legalcorrection wrote: post #40
CWuestefeld wrote: post #37

I spent Sunday researching alternatives, then uninstalling KIS and trying to install BitDefender. From this I conclude that the current state of AV/Security apps is dismal. Researching alternatives is difficult, it falls directly into the cesspool that is web product recommendation in 2022. Trying to weed out the garbage articles, I find a handful of apps that are consistently rated that the top. I discarded the reco…

I'm curious, can you tell me why Windows Defender is inadequate? I also gather that Microsoft sells an enhanced version for businesses with needs beyond local machine antivirus.

I guess that's a fair question, as it does seem to suffice for most people. I have a few reasons:

* Extensive use of Chinese sites, which are quite a mess. I think the risks of visiting that part of the Internet are much greater than someone engaged in more typical usage.

* Features like firewall are useful for things other than protecting against direct hacks, and I use it to ensure privacy and occasionally even to simulate failures when testing my code. I think that Defender has such a thing, but less sophisticated?

* Probably just being more paranoid than most, having lived through an era when less protection was available, and having to un-hack family members.

ETA: also, it's good to have a different sort of protection when the majority is all homogeneous. Windows Defender is the obvious high-value target for hackers. Same kind of weakness and monoculture.

Re: Kaspersky is declared a US national security threat and is banned by the FCC

#57

Post by cout »

throwmeariver1 wrote: post #12
kozak wrote: post #2

Telegram is next?

I found it always fishy that telegram applauds itself for being a secure messenger but decided against encryption by default. With the flick of a switch every doubt would go away but alas.

End-to-end encrypted by default doesn't mean much if you don't trust the third party providing the software that does the encryption. One automatic app update can enable leaking of encrypted communication.

Re: Kaspersky is declared a US national security threat and is banned by the FCC

#58

Post by dartharva »

hans1729 wrote: post #42
the_snooze wrote: post #33

Is there any point in using antivirus these days anyway? I'm open to being wrong here, but I'm under the impression that antivirus exists only to tick boxes in outdated security compliance checklists. How big of a threat are viruses compared to, say, rogue antivirus products themselves?

It’s a thing in big orgs, where macros are enabled in excel and employees can be tricked into opening mail attachments. Windows defender should suffice, but like you said, from a compliance/insurance perspective it may me valuable to say “look, we scanned for signatures according to the latest knowledge of [insert vendor]”. Personally I think that it’s ridiculous that these huge orgs fail to address the actual underl…

I would really hope my organization doesn't start blanket banning excel macros for "security". It'll be a huge blow to productivity for several.

Re: Kaspersky is declared a US national security threat and is banned by the FCC

#59

Post by CWuestefeld »

Jamie9912 wrote: post #49
CWuestefeld wrote: post #37

I spent Sunday researching alternatives, then uninstalling KIS and trying to install BitDefender. From this I conclude that the current state of AV/Security apps is dismal. Researching alternatives is difficult, it falls directly into the cesspool that is web product recommendation in 2022. Trying to weed out the garbage articles, I find a handful of apps that are consistently rated that the top. I discarded the reco…

Did you take a look at ESET?

That was actually going to be my first choice. From what I read it seems better polished than others. But then I read some recent lab tests in which ESET missed blocking a ransomware attack. And that's the threat model that worries me the most.

Re: Kaspersky is declared a US national security threat and is banned by the FCC

#60

Post by older »

mohamez wrote: post #8
kozak wrote: post #2

Telegram is next?

IIRC Telegram is banned in Russia, and its CEO is not in good terms with the Russian government.

It is not only not banned but "found a compromise" and agreed to co-operate with FSB according to Russian MP (google translated article from tjournal.ru): https://tjournal-ru.translate.goog/news/562296-durov-nashel-...
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