What CIA thinks of your av

BITDEFENDER

The posts aren't complete enough to say for sure, but Bitdefender, a Romanian anti-virus product, seemed to cause CIA hackers a lot of trouble.

One post appears to suggest that Bitdefender could be defeated by a bit of tinkering.

Or maybe not.

"Alas, we've just tried this," a response to the post said. "Bitdefender is still mad."

Bitdefender representative Marius Buterchi said the only conclusion to draw was that "we are detecting the CIA tools."

Lol
 
Sounds like it's all pretty outdated.

But mostly confirms my belief that A/V products only provide a modicum of protection from typical drive by attacks and won't protect you at all from an actual targeted attack by a knowledgeable individual.
 
haha, glad I use built-in defender and backblaze online backup.

Built in defender and Microsoft security essentials aren't in this article but are listed in the actual wikileaks report so I wouldn't feel too safe.

Not many security people seem to be too worried because it sounds like this is all outdated stuff that probably no longer works or been patched. I'm sure the CIA already has newer stuff that does work though.
 
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Sounds like it's all pretty outdated.

But mostly confirms my belief that A/V products only provide a modicum of protection from typical drive by attacks and won't protect you at all from an actual targeted attack by a knowledgeable individual.

They're akin to locks on doors: they reduce the chances of a casual breach, but if anyone is dedicated, the security can be bypassed.
 
Worthless effort, the purpose of an antivirus is to protect end users against viruses and random (automated) intrusions.
Not to protect against a zealous hacker focusing on a random user, barely.

Fear mongering article.
 
the article is likely referring to a bypass without any signs that something is wrong. crippling an AV without worrying about what the user notices shouldn't be a challenge for the cia.
 
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I am certain that as a home user, there is absolutely nothing I am willing to do will keep a determined hacker out. I have CEH, and the Air Force sent me to various courses for ethical hacking for around 100 hours. (last one was 7 years ago, so I am way out of date, lol)

But there is nothing I am willing to do to completely make my computer hacker proof. There is nothing a small amount business owner, with limited IT budget could do to make it hacker proof. In fact, if you look at large companies who get hacked, I have no doubt if you ever become lax, no amount of money can ever keep you safe from a determined hacker.

What AV does though, is keeps the lazy people out. It shouldn't be as easy as your child clicking on a link for someone to have access to all your banking records. It shouldn't be so easy for a 16 year old to park across the street and access your network and your computer. That is what a decent program will stop.
 
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