Kaspersky is just one piece of software to avoid. Others include:
- Telegram
- Avast AV
- Anything from 360 Safe / Qihoo 360
- Opera browser … now owned by above
- Zoom
- FileZilla / UTorrent / other PUA that bundles adware and acts essentially as a trojan
Add in:
- TikTok
- Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, and Threads
- Reddit :)
For antivirus, Microsoft’s built-in one is fine. Ideally use an OS that has better security and lower default permissions like popular Linux distros (at the very least, it’s a smaller target than Windows). I haven’t checked recently, but using Malware Bytes for occasional runs (not as active protection though) was good and is probably still good.
But in general, use FOSS, at the very least they’ll probably not pull a Reddit and screw over their users.
Seriously. Windows Defender is an excellent piece of software, and its all you need. Paying for anything else is kinda foolish.
If you’re on windows, you dont need anything else except maybe to install malware bytes once a month, run the scan, and uninstall it.
This is Lemmy. Chances of people here not using Windows is relatively high.
This just feels like a random hit list; how did you come up with it?
Why zoom? It’s based out of San Francisco.
I also object to the Telegram inclusion. Unless you want to include Discord, and various other server side encrypted communication apps. The founders may be Russians by birth but they have Ukrainian roots, are no longer Russian citizens, had their first company stolen from them by the Kremlin, etc. Also I always like to note, Einstein was a German by birth but he was no Nazi.
What’s the FileZilla connection? Tim Kosse (which as far as I can tell it’s still the primary author) is a German.
Honestly, Zoom just has a hilariously high frequency of vulnerabilities being discovered.
This very partial list is based on my being in cyber security for 20 years and working a variety of incidents involving these apps. You all can do whatever you want with your computers.
Telegram is better than WhatsApp. At least it has a decent Linux client, and all clients are open source. WhatsApp has neither.
Maybe better client and more features. But Russians have full access to servers and messages. They could read whatever they want. It’s a fact that proved during war that Russia started in Ukraine.
Ah fuck, what’s the alternative to FileZilla?! I’ve been using that for like 17 years.
So just to illustrate, I went to the normal FileZilla download page and downloaded the Win64 package. Then I submitted it to VirusTotal.
https://filezilla-project.org/download.php?platform=win64#close
https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/dbde8a4bd71bb1fbc0511cdb657dfeffdaedc513aa425f856043532a7cba6fce
I don’t even use antivirus software anymore. Previously, every time I found a new one recommended by security experts I thought I could trust, about a year later, it turned to shit or was relieved to always having been shit. Now I just backup my stuff and vet any executable. I don’t do any serious work on my Windows install anyway, so nuking it isn’t a problem.
Out of curiosity, why Telegram? (Im out of the loop on this one)
As for uTorrent, I’ve got version 2.2.1 and have never allowed it to update in the last decade or however long it’s been. I think that was the last version that didn’t allow any ads or otherwise and was simply a solid p2p client at the time.
may I ask why didn’t you just switch to qbittorrent? is there a feature that utorrent has but qbit doesn’t?
Never needed to or even thought about it. uTorrent never gave me any issues and was super lightweight. Additionally, there was a fansubbed anime site I was a member of for a long time that had a limited whitelist of p2p clients last they would allow their trackers to function on. uT 2.2.1 was one of those.
That pc seldom gets used anymore nowadays anyway, as my main pc is running OpenSuse and ktorrent does all I need it to.
If you forget everything else, it’s basically an unencrypted chat where the company behind it can read all your messages.
Country in a trade war / cold war with another country decides to block imports of some product from said other country, citing fears of the product being poisoned. It’s barely news.
Yeah it is, and I’m happy about it being posted, it’s not that. I should be less sarcastic and more direct, I am just getting jaded. Thanks for pointing it out.
I guess what I am saying is more that of course the US is going to try to limit Russian influence and trade, just as Russia does as much as it can. Same with China and Tiktok and whatever.
It’s reasonable, it’s actually one of the more reasonable things the US does. There are a ton of people around here who cosplay as communists while rooting for fascist Putin who try to blow these things up as an attack on free trade or freedom of speech.
It’s not like Putin’s people literally wrote and published a book about how they want to do election interference using stuff like this.
It’s news. That’s all that matters.
Also this is actually a pretty unique and interesting scenario. You ever seen a digital embargo of software from a single country imposed on citizens? Not to mention the dignity and rights violations on both sides…
Yes, I’ve seen digital embargoes preventing companies in other countries doing business in mine, because their legal environment differs from ours.
Google Analytics got banned in several European countries comes to mind. I remember some small blogs writing about that, not much else.
Why would anybody in their right mind use Kasper by now.
Why would anyone trust, want to use, and yet alone pay for Russian antivirus software
I’m not sure how that’s relevant. People should be free to use whatever they want. I’m not interested in Russian software, but that doesn’t mean banning it is okay. The same goes for Chinese software like TikTok (not touching that), Iranian software, or North Korean software, if that’s even a thing. I don’t care if literal Nazis made the software, people should be free to use what they want.
The only areas the government should get involved are:
- government owned devices
- public advisories
- prosecution of crimes where the software is involved
The software I choose to use is not the government’s business. If I violate a law, charge me with a crime, but don’t preemptively ban stuff.
What if said software is being used to manipulate national interests from a civilian level and its owned by an adverserial nation?
That’s one of the costs of liberty. The government will need to find another way.
The barrier to banning something in the interests of national security must be much higher than “this could be used by our enemies.” That’s the entire basis for the War on a Terror, the Patriot Act, and the NSA spying on Americans, and I won’t stand for it. It’s also the same idea as banning books, that’s just not how a free society works.
You combat misinformation through integrity and transparency, not bans.
You found one video supporting your viewpoint. Kaspersky’s role in Russian intelligence has been an open secret since the mid 2010s. This is Facebook Anti-Vaxxer “research” methodology.
Not that it was a secret at any point. That company has that approach to advertising and PR reminiscent of hacker movies as normies, lamers and “Windows power users” perceive them. Usually when there’s bullshit in one part, you expect it to be there in other parts too.
But - their “antivirus check tool” or something was very convenient for me to remove winlockers somewhere in 2007. I do remember the good things.
Only pure all-American spyware on my machine. 🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🦅
