Chinese Antivirus: the plague of today

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AtlBo

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Thanks for a well balanced set of comments on this topic. After I read the article, I expected the comments to be scathing, but they are remarkably fair and insightful, and there are many valid points.

I for one am totally stunned by the contents of the privacy statement of Qihoo for 360 TS. I use 360 on 4 PCs, which to my own shame I had not read previously. As a result, I had no idea that Qihoo was granting itself the legal authority to gather and use at its discretion credit card numbers and even Social Security numbers. The SSN is the key ingredient to identity theft for a U.S. citizen, and I guard my number very vigilantly. BTW, I know I should have read the statement, but I guess in this instance this is another reason to be grateful for you guys here are MT. I think I may have learned my lesson this time. I will find the time to read the privacy statements of programs in the future.

As for Qihoo, my first instict was enragement over the policy (which I went and read at the Qihoo site after reading the article and some posts), but everyone's posts helped me to calm down and realize that there must be a proper context for what's happening with security programs and this practice. At any rate, I can't see a solution for this here in the United States short of regulation of information gathering practices from the U.S. Congress. I hope that someone finds a way to get through to them soon. Maybe someone in some other country will begin the outcry, but either way I do feel that info grabbing should be stopped, both with changed practices and protocols and with changed standards and expectations...
 
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Chromatinfish 123

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May 26, 2014
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One of my friends had someone over from China, and the first thing she did was install QQ (a chinese version of Skype). However, the installer came bundled with the 360 Browser, which also changed the homepage and the regular Adware stuff.
 

DardiM

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(1) "Fica a pergunta: porque empresas que não têm nada a ver com segurança desenvolvem um antivírus?"
Interesting question. I read that Qihoo 360 has good results in detection. Now I wonder what part of malware/virus detected are made by themselves ... ;) (It is ironic, or not ...).

(2) "A China é conhecida pelo monitoramento da internet. O governo chinês emprega 2 milhões de pessoas para controlar a internet e recentemente tentou forçar que empresas de tecnologia estrangeira implementasse backdoors em seus produtos, além de fornecerem a chave de criptografia utilizada em seus produtos. Quem entende de segurança JAMAIS utiliza software chinês – e quem não entende também deveria fazer o mesmo."
The first question that comes to my mind when I read the red part : what about anti-virus made by some other countries that spy internet too ? :oops:

(3) "Nenhum antivirus chinês foi criado por uma empresa seriamente focada em segurança"

If making money this way by adds, why not ? But I hope it is not with malware / hacking / data from their users, too...

(4)"Antivírus pagos
I know people that pay together a multiple licence AV. One of them renews it each years before licences ends, with an interesting Discount : this way the price is divided and the money spend by each person is VERY less than a single licence of this product.
=> In this case , it could be better to get a paid anti-virus than a free AV with adds, strange policy (and less well reputation) :rolleyes:
 
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AlphaBeta

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Oct 24, 2015
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Well you are using operating systems made primarily in the U.S and hardware made primarily in China and other Asian countries. So I don't see the point of discussing this, if they wanted to spy on you, there are thousands of other methods they'll find to do so. If it's about the adware, then you're installing free software and they're bound to put ads in there.
 

jackuars

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I for one am totally stunned by the contents of the privacy statement of Qihoo for 360 TS. I use 360 on 4 PCs, which to my own shame I had not read previously. As a result, I had no idea that Qihoo was granting itself the legal authority to gather and use at its discretion credit card numbers and even Social Security numbers.

Where is that written? And why would a Billion$ company need a simple individual's cash in the bank.
 

Azure

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Where is that written? And why would a Billion$ company need a simple individual's cash in the bank.
Privacy Policy | 360 Total Security
  • Personal Details (including birth date, race, gender, sexual orientation, ID card number and social security number)
  • Payment Information (including payment card bank account numbers or passwords, credit card statements, or transaction histories)
 
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NullByte

Privacy Policy | 360 Total Security
  • Personal Details (including birth date, race, gender, sexual orientation, ID card number and social security number)
  • Payment Information (including payment card bank account numbers or passwords, credit card statements, or transaction histories)

Only if you give them by using Facebook or other type of online activity that requires you to give them that info. BTW, if you send samples to them they will know your name and e-mail ...

Who wrote the article is using deception :)
 

jamescv7

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Well for sure Qihoo privacy policy applies on other aspect, since an AV should limit on which information must collect only like name, email, OS and few others.

Surely they will be sue if it goes below the belt.
 

jackuars

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Privacy Policy | 360 Total Security
  • Personal Details (including birth date, race, gender, sexual orientation, ID card number and social security number)
  • Payment Information (including payment card bank account numbers or passwords, credit card statements, or transaction histories)

Privacy Policy | We are serious about your privacy | AVG
Avast Privacy Policy

The same has been quoted on their privacy policies too regarding payment information but in a different way, stating the same thing.
The information such as account number and passwords is to check the validity of your account. Obviously they don't want to steal your money. And has anything like that ever happened?

The answer is No. I'll believe they want your money if at-least one person states that he's been stolen. There's too much paranoia on privacy policies, the more you read, the scarier you get. Almost every company has been through that phase, being accused of weak privacy policies
 

Yile Wang

Level 1
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Sep 29, 2014
27
I am NOT a Chinese security software user, but I found this article is unfair:

Firstly, the author claimed that Chinese security vendors didn't start their business from security, so their products are not reliable. This is as ridiculous as claiming that Google Maps are not reliable because Google didn't start their business from navigation.

Secondly, the author claimed that Chinese security vendors didn't focus on security and they just leverage their credibility and efficiency by using engines from other companies like Avira and Bitdefender. So, what about F-Secure, G-Data, ZoneAlarm? Should they abandon their engines from their competitors? Qihoo 360 has focused on security for many years and the author just turned a blind eye on it and misled people.

Thirdly, the author said ‘Two of the three leading independent companies of antivirus tests (AV-Comparatives, AV-Test and VirusBulletin) do not test more Chinese antivirus’. However, the truth is AV-Test keeps testing Qihoo 360 and VirusBulletin keeps testing Qihoo 360 and Tencent PC Manager until now. However, AV-Comparative removed Qihoo 360 from their test list because of their cheating, but they are still testing Tencent PC Manager.

Just see the latest results below:

AV-TEST – The Independent IT-Security Institute

Virus Bulletin :: Comparative Results

AV-Comparatives - Independent Tests of Anti-Virus Software - Real World Protection Test Overview

Last but not least, the author claimed that ‘The AV-Comparatives testing continues, and the best Chinese antivirus is the staggering 11th place.’ I don’t know how he/she drew this conclusion, please see the latest report above.

In conclusion, this article itself lacks seriousness and credibility. Just based on the four points above, this article didn’t always tell the truth, so I can hardly tell what else it said is true or not.
 
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MVP Baboo

Level 1
Aug 22, 2016
6
1. Google Maps became a revenue source from Google while Chinese antivirus Chinese generates ZERO revenue because they profit from user's data.

2. Yes, they should. Mislead is to blindly trust in Qihoo while they own Privacy Policy implies they "may collect" almost all user's data. Qihoo should protect these data instead of profiting from them. Some data collected includes sexual orientation, ID card number, social security number, social network account user names, contacts, chat logs, email messages, payment card bank account numbers or passwords, credit card statements, transaction histories and many more.

3. Tencent and Qihoo cheated antivirus tests. Don't blame me for not defending cheaters as there are many excellent antivirus options from serious companies who are focused solely on security!

4. This article was written 6 months ago and it reflects the results of that time. Nevertheless, Chinese antivirus uses 3rd party engines to try to be considered serious competitors...

BTW I wrote the article cited in this topic.

[]s

Aurelio "Baboo"
www.baboo.com.br
MVP Windows Experience
 

Yile Wang

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Sep 29, 2014
27
1. Google Maps became a revenue source from Google while Chinese antivirus Chinese generates ZERO revenue because they profit from user's data.

2. Yes, they should. Mislead is to blindly trust in Qihoo while they own Privacy Policy implies they "may collect" almost all user's data. Qihoo should protect these data instead of profiting from them. Some data collected includes sexual orientation, ID card number, social security number, social network account user names, contacts, chat logs, email messages, payment card bank account numbers or passwords, credit card statements, transaction histories and many more.

3. Tencent and Qihoo cheated antivirus tests. Don't blame me for not defending cheaters as there are many excellent antivirus options from serious companies who are focused solely on security!

4. This article was written 6 months ago and it reflects the results of that time. Nevertheless, Chinese antivirus uses 3rd party engines to try to be considered serious competitors...

BTW I wrote the article cited in this topic.

[]s

Aurelio "Baboo"
www.baboo.com.br
MVP Windows Experience


Thank you for citing the answer from the author, I'm interested in what he/she said and happy to see different ideas. However, three of these four points above failed in persuasiveness and proof, but the last point tells the truth that this article was 6 months old and the information expired. I'm not going to argue with him/her because he/she was not conducting a point-by-point rebuttal against my points of view. However, about what information they collect, I never pay close attention to it, so I will not comment on it, sorry about that.
Moreover, the author keeps using the word 'Chinese antivirus' instead of certain vendor's name, such as Qihoo or Tencent, to defend his/her opinion, so he/she just want to force other people to believe that ALL Chinese software is not trusty, that is over absolute. Assuming Qihoo and Tencent are as bad as the author claims, they cannot represent all Chinese software, right?
Thank you very much for your citation and the unique opinion from the author.
 
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ZeroDay

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Aug 17, 2013
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This is absolutely ridiculous. Honestly, you're worried about Q360 collecting data when a huge amount of the worlds hardware, PC's, iPhones, motherboards The list is huge, all made in China and all could contain malware embedded into the hardware. Then we have Microsoft collecting data, Then Google, plus Googles mobile OS - Android. I've never read anything so ridiculous as some of the comments on this thread.

The amount of technology that we all use on a day to day basis that is made in China is unreal and no one bats an eye. Q360 come out with an A that, in my opinion is a better AV than most if not all other on the market at the moment including paid ones, big AV companies get nervous, push a it of propaganda and everyone is up in arms. Honestly people, if you're worried what info Q360 is collecting you'd best find out where every piece of hardware and software in your house, pace of work and car is made and check 100's if not 1000's of companies privacy policies and their business practices.
 

Ileshcin

New Member
Aug 23, 2016
3
This makes no sense. Qihoo provides free and powerful products without functional limit which may reduce the market share of paid security products. It would be a potential threat of paid products, so some of them hired ghostwriters to attack their potential threat. If you want to protect your information from being collected, just simply cut off your network and stop using USB flash storage.
 
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