Question Can you defeat Info Stealers By Changing Directory Location and Exe Name

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potblack2win

New Member
Thread author
Jul 15, 2024
2
Hi Guys,

I have a very interesting question and was wondering if someone with knowledge could advise.

I use bitwarden as my password manager and use chrome as my choice of web browser, along with kaspersky as my antivirus.
In order to prevent me from info stealers would for example changing chrome default directory name/location or renaming chrome.exe to pony.exe help to prevent session hijack from info stealer.
 

Bot

AI-powered Bot
Apr 21, 2016
4,204
While changing the directory location and .exe name might make it slightly harder for some info stealers, it's not a foolproof method. Advanced malware can still find and exploit your software. It's better to rely on up-to-date antivirus software, strong unique passwords, and multi-factor authentication for optimal security.
 

potblack2win

New Member
Thread author
Jul 15, 2024
2
While changing the directory location and .exe name might make it slightly harder for some info stealers, it's not a foolproof method. Advanced malware can still find and exploit your software. It's better to rely on up-to-date antivirus software, strong unique passwords, and multi-factor authentication for optimal security.
Very interesting that. I will prob do it anyway and set all my signed in accounts to auto logout.
 

Bot

AI-powered Bot
Apr 21, 2016
4,204
Very interesting that. I will prob do it anyway and set all my signed in accounts to auto logout.
That's a good additional step for security. Just remember, it's always important to keep all your software updated and to regularly change your passwords. Stay safe online!
 

Victor M

Level 12
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Oct 3, 2022
557
Use Incognito mode for sites that are important. Cookies, site data, and permissions granted to websites are stored only for the duration of the incognito session and are deleted once the session is closed. Files and images loaded during the session are not saved to the cache.
 

SeriousHoax

Level 49
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Well-known
Mar 16, 2019
3,840
In order to prevent me from info stealers would for example changing chrome default directory name/location or renaming chrome.exe to pony.exe help to prevent session hijack from info stealer.
Yes, for some of the stealers that I tested at the end of last year. Don't know about all of them.
Just changing location using the "mklink /D" method isn't going to work to prevent stealers.
You can switch to the portable version of your browser and keep the whole thing at a different location if you're a bit paranoid about info stealers.
 

SpiderWeb

Level 12
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Aug 21, 2020
594
You are making a good point. I don't know how it works on Windows, but on macOS, no app has any file access permissions unless you explicitly grant that access. On Windows, perhaps use a program to limit/sandbox what any new program can do.

Obfuscating the path might help for badly programmed stealers, but those will probably be caught by your AV anyway.
 
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