The Anti-virus Times

Monday, October 22, 2018

Opinion polls show that users are concerned about the security of their personal data. However, in practice they act as though they aren't: most people disregard basic security recommendations and provide information about themselves wherever they can. And never read the fine print of agreement terms. But some users do change their system settings to disable remote tracking. And those users could indeed have a trouble-free life if it weren't for inquisitive marketers.

The extension is activated without user consent, and you have to create a parameter manually—we are lost for words here.

And this information emerged on just one news site! And how many reports about this issue never found their way to news portals?

We are constantly buying new computers, gadgets, and software since our old gear stops working after a year or two. Thanks to China, we can order as much as we want of whatever we want.

In other words, if the government asks us to do it, we'll do it. That's an honest answer. And there’s more:

This is common practice among technological companies entering the Chinese market.

However, no backdoors are implemented to conduct surveillance in other countries for any government agencies. But if you come into possession of a device from a shipment containing backdoors, that will be purely coincidental, right?

And now here’s the question: should an anti-virus remove the backdoors it discovers on devices?

And then things get really interesting. The problem is that devices can host hacker-deployed malware just as well as applications that have been installed upon some government’s request. The fact that “white hats” discover a huge number of backdoors only demonstrates how little manufacturers care about the security of their devices. Weakly password-protected remote administration services that are never mentioned in documentation are a typical example.

Other utilities that get preinstalled on devices by manufacturers are essentially part of their telemetry system. Manufacturers collect information about equipment failures because users often can't provide an adequate description of an issue, or they submit their reports very belatedly. So we can't say that this business serves no purpose. Is it annoying? Definitely. But, on the other hand, a problem discovered on one device can help resolve the issue for many other users. Here one must know where to draw the line and to not snatch up too much information.

But there is also another category: those who offer a lower price and believe that because of that they can stuff their firmware with whatever they please.

Whereas we refer to everything as a backdoor, in practice security researchers always have to decide what exactly they have just discovered: another example of incompetence and negligence that is being exploited by hackers or a manufacturer's secret technique for generating extra profits.

#anti-virus #backdoor #malware #personal_data #remote_access