Antivirus useless? Let's discuss.

Axel PC

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Antivirus tools are a useless box-ticking exercise says Google security chap

Antivirus tools are a useless box-ticking exercise says Google security chap

Came across this article surfing my usual tech news sites and wanted to get y'all's thoughts. I know @Neemobeer and I have had a few posts back and forth about Antivirus.

I understand what Darren Bilby is talking about how once your AV tells you something is wrong with your computer that the damage has already been done. However, I think he's coming from a perspective of a very advanced computer expert, a Google security engineer's viewpoint and that keeps him in a bubble view versus the average computer user.

However, lol, I also understand what he's saying that hardware and software manufacturers need to focus on security, current and future models, rather than leave it up to the user. So I'm kind of torn here.

He uses an analogy of a car lot selling cars that catch fire every week and it's the new car owners responsibility to fix that. I think it's a very poor analogy because its not realistic, no on would purchase a car that catches fire every week nor could a company make and sell such car.

I think a better analogy would be that of a person/user buying a car/computer and the more they drive it/get online the more maintenance the car/computer needs. So who's responsibility is it then for security, the user, software/hardware manufacturers, internet companies?

Looking forward to reading everyone's thoughts. Oh yeah, I'm approaching this in a Socratic way, trying to meld my live of tech and discourse in this thread. Let's see if it works here?

Galaxy S7 Edge
 
Solution
Yes, there's no doubt that malware have evolved beyond the Melissa virus or a typical RAT.

But who should be responsible for addressing this and dealing with it?

Should the tech manufacturers be charged with coming up with built-in solutions?

Or should it be up to the consumer to purchase anti malware?

Galaxy S7 Edge
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Well as I have stated based on the rate at which new malware is released and the the fact that the bad guys are releasing more and more sophisticated malware with polymorphic qualities have rendered old school signature based detection close to useless. Behavioral detection has been around for awhile and it too is becoming less effective. Cloud analytics, the ability to track, analyse and remediate changes by malware are being the norm and are still having trouble keeping up with threats. To show case how sophisticated some malware has become here is a good article on the resurregence and development on the Qbot malware which originally dates back to 2008. Cisco Talos Blog: Research Spotlight: The Resurgence of Qbot
 
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Yes, there's no doubt that malware have evolved beyond the Melissa virus or a typical RAT.

But who should be responsible for addressing this and dealing with it?

Should the tech manufacturers be charged with coming up with built-in solutions?

Or should it be up to the consumer to purchase anti malware?

Galaxy S7 Edge
 
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Solution
Decent AV protection is definitely worth having but I also feel that many problems could be avoided if users were informed about what's safe to click on and what isn't. More education would help but only as part of a package also offering a decent AV suite like ESET.
 
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Ok that's a good point bout training. But let's be realistic here. We're all tech geeks. But the majority of computers aren't tech geeks just consumers.

So is it a reality that the typical consumer is going to take the time to be more informed of all the computer threats out there?

And what about the software and hardware manufactures? Where do they fit into all of this? Not the AV and security companies. I mean the companies that make computer parts, mobos, video cards, routers, etc. The software companies that make the operating systems, the Adobes, Apples, Microsofts, SAPs etc. And the internet providers as well.

Nice link @Neemobeer !
 
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I have Kaspersky Internet Security along with a few malware detection softwares to keep my computer safe. There are new threats out there every day. I don't want to see my computer files locked up and to pay a ransom fee.

Sent from my GT-P5210 using Windows Forums mobile app
 
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