App Review Avast, Avira, BD Boot Protection Test

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cruelsister

cruelsister

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A simple run of a zero day package that will drop a Tesla encryptor. Note that all three of the products tested would detect this Tesla on direct run. The question is if the AV's will load on boot prior to the malware and thus stop it.

 
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Only BitDefender succeeded... this is quite alarming for me, since I have recommended Avast as a relatively full-featured free antivirus to many friends and other people who have asked my opinion.
I will definitely be reconsidering that recommendation. :p
It's not that this is a rare threat either... it can actually be quite common.
Lack of boot time protection in major free AVs such as Avira and Avast sure is a letdown.
 
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Anti-Malware Reviewer said:
Surprised avast! missed, I will inform them :)

This is why I run a companion AV, if anything is missed then...
Click to expand...
Well, having a companion AV wouldn't matter either if that AV is also incapable of protecting at boot.

Btw, have they responded yet? I'm curious to hear what Avast's opinion on the video is.
 
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DracusNarcrym said:
Only BitDefender succeeded... this is quite alarming for me, since I have recommended Avast as a relatively full-featured free antivirus to many friends and other people who have asked my opinion.
I will definitely be reconsidering that recommendation. :p
It's not that this is a rare threat either... it can actually be quite common.
Lack of boot time protection in major free AVs such as Avira and Avast sure is a letdown.
Click to expand...
bunchuu said:
because getting BD paid giveaway is easy, BD offers extended trial up to 6 months. So if you can get their premium product, why bother with their free product? ;)
Click to expand...

True, but one issue I had with BitDefender is the RAM usage because last week i clear extensions of MBAM on BitDefender Total Security 2016, and guess what happened after that? 500MB of RAM usage while idle on the desktop with nothing open. So yeah, i uninstalled BitDefender after that because heck i won't give BitDefender that 500MB of RAM usage run on my PC.
 
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Now I know you guys are gonna laugh, but I'm serious. I would love to see someone test PC Matic... Have you seen their TV adds. They make some incredible claims... No one has tested it, all other AV, and IS software's get tested...Would love to see if they are as good as they claim.

Concerning BD and Ram... It runs great on my PC...Now Dr. Web brought my pc and internet to a stand still?
 
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Rod McCarthy said:
Now I know you guys are gonna laugh, but I'm serious. I would love to see someone test PC Matic...
Click to expand...

Someone already did a test on youtube.I think it was on My Clean PC though
They essentially did a clean install of Windows with nothing on it but the brand new virgin OS
They installed PCMatic or MyClean PC and ran the scan which found something like 1,300 problems.
They then called the number for help in fixing the problems and you can figure the rest from there.
I don't think it would be worth anyone's time in testing it because we already now what the outcome will be.
PcMatic = Stay Away PC Matic | Complaints List

It is essentially a virus and once installed they will basically extort you for money to get your PC back or worse ruin your PC
 
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This is not new. This issue was in 2010-2011 with FakeAVs (back then FakeAVs installed on boot and some of them worked in Safe Mode).

What interests me is how the script works, where it adds to start up and why it bypassed Avira's Cloud Protection and Avast's Hardened Mode.
 
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Glad you guys liked the video. Thanks for watching!

A few things:
OpenSecLabs said:
This is not new
Click to expand...

1). That is precisely the issue. One could let a company slide if a new POC bypass is presented, but it is inexcusable when a known problem is being ignored (like lack of Worm protection in MB).

2). For Avast and Avira- the Paid product yielded the same result. I went with the Free versions as they are more commonly used.

3). As the malware was freshly coded (and unreleased) getting by either local or Cloud AV's is no big thing. And regarding Avast's "Hardened" mode- I've never found this setting to be even an annoyance. The terms Hardened and Aggressive certainly are impressive, but personally I'm still waiting to see what they actually do.

4). I'll be doing two more video's on this topic- my issue is that the next one up does have nice Boot Time protection, so I'll have to spend some time to see if I can get around it. Hopefully within a week.
 
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Great video, as always.

Avast was disappointed me, I use it in some computers because Hardened mode, but looks absolutely useless...

Simply put, the Hardened Mode is a means of “parental control” for executable files.

When enabled, it is always running in the background and checking every process launched on the machine. The evaluation of files is based on their reputation coming from the cloud (controlled by the VLab).

  • In the Aggressive Hardened Mode, only chosen executable files with known high ratings are allowed; the rest gets prevented from running.
Click to expand...
 
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