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Ask Slashdot: Should Users Uninstall Kaspersky's Antivirus Software? (slashdot.org)
First, here's the opinion of two former NSA cybersecurity analysts (via Consumer Reports):
"It's a big deal," says Blake Darche, a former NSA cybersecurity analyst and the founder of the cybersecurity firm Area 1. "For any consumers or small businesses that are concerned about privacy or have sensitive information, I wouldn't recommend running Kaspersky." By its very nature antivirus software is an appealing tool for hackers who want to access remote computers, security experts say. Such software is designed to scan a computer comprehensively as it searches for malware, then send regular reports back to a company server. "One of the things people don't realize, by installing that tool you give [the software manufacturer] the right to pull any information that might be interesting," says Chris O'Rourke, another former NSA cybersecurity expert who is the CEO of cybersecurity firm Soteria.
But for that reason, Bloomberg View columnist Leonid Bershidsky suggests any anti-virus software will be targetted by nation-state actors, and argues that for most users, "non-state criminal threats are worse. That's why Interpol this week signed a new information-sharing agreement with Kaspersky despite all the revelations in the U.S. media: The international police cooperation organization deals mainly with non-state actors, including profit-seeking hackers, rather than with the warring intelligence services."
And long-time Slashdot reader freddieb is a loyal Kaspersky user who is wondering what to do, calling the software "very effective and non-intrusive." And in addition, "Numerous recent hacks have gotten my data (Equifax, and others) so I expect I have nothing else to fear except ransomware."
Share your own informed opinions in the comments. Should users uninstall Kaspersky's antivirus software?
But for that reason, Bloomberg View columnist Leonid Bershidsky suggests any anti-virus software will be targetted by nation-state actors, and argues that for most users, "non-state criminal threats are worse. That's why Interpol this week signed a new information-sharing agreement with Kaspersky despite all the revelations in the U.S. media: The international police cooperation organization deals mainly with non-state actors, including profit-seeking hackers, rather than with the warring intelligence services."
And long-time Slashdot reader freddieb is a loyal Kaspersky user who is wondering what to do, calling the software "very effective and non-intrusive." And in addition, "Numerous recent hacks have gotten my data (Equifax, and others) so I expect I have nothing else to fear except ransomware."
Share your own informed opinions in the comments. Should users uninstall Kaspersky's antivirus software?
Of course Kaspersky should be removed from your system.
Or if you want to keep it, then don't complain when your files get reviewed by an invasive dictatorship. Of course, in 90% of cases they might not give a two shits about you, but if they do, then Kaspersky is one of their possible tools.
Also, there is absolutely no doubt that Kaspersky and similar Russian-made products should be removed from government networks or any computers handling sensitive information.
Your bullshit denial of reality in the face of mounting evidence only convinces fools and traitors.
Of course russian intelligence services are using Kaspersky for their own purpose.
Of course if I were in Russia I would have my doubts about running US software for the same reason. As a rule of thumb, don't trust code produced by your main adversary.
The whole mass hysteria about Russia comes from the vast list of things Russian agencies has done in recent years to divide competitors to their interests
FTFY. The email thing was overplayed vastly in the US media (while Trump's staff doing the exact same thing wasn't, curiously), but it doesn't change the fact that the Kremlin-backed candidate won in that election and it is likely that he hadn't without Russian involvement. Moreover, Russian meddling in US politics is part of a much wider programme, including the destabilisation of Georgia and Ukraine and the financial backing of populist movements in various European countries and contributions towards the desinformation campaign in favour of Brexit.
... you shouldn't use any operating system or computer work environment that needs to rely on anti-virus software to relyably function.
Glad I could help.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
Think about it for a minute.
Would truly malicious software actually allow itself to be uninstalled? If the Kaspersky people are competent at what they do, and if they are doing it for Putin, then you are in a world of hurt. The question of "Should you uninstall?" is relatively trivial compared to the big questions of "Are you able to uninstall the software?" and "How can you be sure you really got rid of it?"
The makers of the best anti-virus software (which might be Kaspersky for all I know) would know about every backdoor into your system and every way to hide bad code. If that company was evil or suborned for evil purposes, that same knowledge would make it impossible to remove their software unless they REALLY wanted to let you remove it.
All things considered, especially things like how good Putin is at manipulating people, at this point I'd have very little trust in any computer that ever ran any software that originated in Russia. Or even software that was exposed to Russians who have family members still living in Russia.
Technology remains morally neutral. Putin and his kleptocrats? Not so much.
Before commenting, I searched this discussion for prior statements of this obvious reality. Didn't find any, but maybe I just hadn't thought of the right keywords yet. So I'll try another search now...
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
Hahaha, here we are nearly 10 months into Trump's presidency and you're still crying "... but her emails!". Can't you move on?
Damage to national security due to a leak doesn't magically expire if there was a fucking election wrapped around that stupidity.
We'll move on, once she's treated the same as any other idiot transmitting highly classified information.
They're less "snake oil" than "yesterday's solution."
At this point, for Windows users, I'd simply recommend using the built-in AV and some common-sense precautions. No, it's never rated quite as highly as 3rd party AVs in the number of viruses they catch, but it's completely unobtrusive, lightweight, and has very few compatibility issues. And for any MAJOR attacks, it's typically updated fairly promptly.
These days, the security vulnerabilities they may introduce by hooking deep inside your system are no longer worth any minor benefits they may provide.
In short, I'd recommend uninstalling Kaspersky or any other AV, not because of "Russian Hackers", but for more pragmatic reasons.
Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
and it is likely that he hadn't without Russian involvement.
That's the hand waving part.
I get why you want to believe that. It's a lot easier than facing up to your policies being deeply unpopular for half the country. And your candidate being just as awful.
Her email thing was vastly under blown. The Secretary of State, discussing classified matters on email through a private email server in her bathroom? Little people are in prison for less.
The point is, we didn't need Russian "meddling" (what, do they employ the Scooby gang? "And I would have got away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling Russian kids!")
The only real answer is fully MAC (Mandatory Access Control) model that is very fined grained. The result of that unfortunately is a computer system nobody really wants to use.
The more immediate reality with A/V software is that its probably something that requires the highest level of trust. This is software that literally hooks into the I/O layers on your system and is allowed to bypass essentially every other kind of access control check. At the same time its hard to put a lot of instrumentation around it because so much of what it does isn't thru the usual OS channels. So you can't know if its misbehaving or doing things it ought not to easily. External network hardware should be able to tell you if its phoning home but that might even be complicated. We are talking about software that after all could stash whatever it wants to send some unused place on the disk and wait three weeks until your not at home but connected to the wifi in some airport and phone home at that time.
Frankly after this and a few past issues, I am not sure any third party A/V solution is advisable. In the Windows world Microsoft should probably just stop even allowing third party kernel modules they have not fully audited. Which would basically kill the A/V industry.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
Sorry to break it to you but a big chunk of the rust belt didn't NEED any sort of "nudge" to hate Hillary
Try actually reading this phrase this time:
the utterly incompetent Clinton campaign
If you'd take a moment to stroll out of your echo chamber, you'd realize that the vast majority did not like either candidate.
Again, the margin in MI was 11,000 votes. That's easily flipped if Clinton had run a competent campaign. Or had Clinton not been so stupid about emails. Or if Russia wasn't running a large social media campaign. Or if the Obama administration had a better response to Flint. Or if the Obama administration had put bankers in jail in 2009. Or if the economy was 1% better. Or if the Obama, W, Clinton or Bush administrations had any idea what to do with the Rust Belt in their free trade idolatry.
Margins that small mean if you take away one small effect, the margin goes away. That is true no matter which candidate you supported.