Battle Kaspersky paid vs HitmanPro.Alert

[conceptualclarity]

The strong points for HitmanPro.Alert are ransomware and exploit protection. What does paid Kaspersky (IS or TS, not the irrelevant Kaspersky Anti-Virus Pro) provide in these realms? How do they compare and contrast?

I know Kaspersky is truly great, but I still think the question is worth asking. There's no such thing as a perfect product.

If you want to throw in some mention of good freeware applications for these purposes, that's fine.

 

[ForgottenSeer 72227]

They are two very different products.

HMPA is an anti exploit and that is it's primary purpose. Kaspersky IS/TS is a fully security suite, AV, firewall, BB, application control, etc...HMPA is designed to be run along side your primary security program (ie: you can technically run HMPA and KIS together if you choose), where as KIS/KTS are meant to be run by themselves. In saying this KIS, KTS have alot ofgreat features that cover many aspects. They are very well rounded programs and quite frankly you can just run either one by itself with no need for any other programs like HMPA.

KIS/KTS already have some sort of Anti-exploit built in I believe, so running HMPA along side it would be redundant. Also KIS/KTS are also very good at detecting ransomware as well.

If you really like HMPA and want to use it, I would suggest using it along the lines of WD, Sophos Home Free, Bitdefender free, Kaspersky free, etc..., as long as it's not a full suite.

 

[plat]

HitmanPro.Alert is a powerful standalone program with multiple mitigations for various exploits. It's really in a class by itself. I have read of periodic problems with KIS, but also others like BitDefender, causing one to have to exclude one to the other, with varying degrees of success. This is true of any big suite with its own proprietary mitigation modules. Here is something interesting for funzies but it's not recent--things may have changed for both products.

HitmanPro.ALERT Support and Discussion Thread

Agreed about using it with Windows Defender, Raiden--it was a great combo while I was subscribed to HMP.Alert back in the early Windows 10 era.

 

[17410742]

I have never been infected with HMPA - Ive used HMP since their first arrival on the scene.

I chop & change between HMPA as a standalone, or HMP as a on-demand scanner to compliment an Anti-Exe type product such as ERP or VS.

I consider HMPA a fanastic stand-a-lone Antivirus with extras such as Multi-Engine, Keystroke encryption & Webcam protections.

 

[ForgottenSeer 72227]

I consider HMPA a fanastic stand-a-lone Antivirus with extras such as Multi-Engine, Keystroke encryption & Webcam protections.

HMPA is a great program, but it's not meant to be a standalone AV. As I've said, its main purpose is to run along side your main AV and provide anti-exploit capabilities with some other mitigations. It's not meant to replace your main AV, it's meant to compliment it, provided that your main security program doesn't already have some of these features like @plat1098 said, or else you can have some conflicts and create some issues on your system.

 

[17410742]

HMPA is a great program, but it's not meant to be a standalone AV. As I've said, its main purpose is to run along side your main AV and provide anti-exploit capabilities with some other mitigations. It's not meant to replace your main AV, it's meant to compliment it, provided that your main security program doesn't already have some of these features like @plat1098 said, or else you can have some conflicts and create some issues on your system.

Just because a product can run alongside another, does not mean its not a standalone AV in its own right.

Ive found their Exploit/Ransomware & Removal to be some of the best out there & this comes with Behaviour analysis, Keystroke encryption, Webcam protections & the engines of Kaspersky & Bitdefender too. (They used to use these engines, i believe its still the case but unsure)

 

[ForgottenSeer 72227]

Just because a product can run alongside another, does not mean its not a standalone AV in its own right.

Ive found their Exploit/Ransomware & Removal to be some of the best out there & this comes with Behaviour analysis, Keystroke encryption, Webcam protections & the engines of Kaspersky & Bitdefender too. (They used to use these engines, i believe its still the case but unsure)

I hear what you are saying, but it still remains that HMPA was not designed to replace your main AV. It has many great features (like you said) that can complement a basic AV (not a full suit), but from what I understand it doesn't have any real-time AV scanning engine. Yes it has Kaspersky and Bitdefender engines built in (due to HMP being integrated into HMPA), but they only come into affect when doing a manual scan with HMP. I could be wrong, but I don't think it's using those engines in real-time to scan files. It also doesn't integrate into Windows Security Center, so WD will still be running as it wasn't designed to replace it.

Again I think it's a fantastic program with a lot of great features and protection capabilities, but still recommended to have an AV running along side it. If you want an all in one and have HMPA as well, you could use Sophos Home Premium as it has a full AV built in as well as HMPA integrated.

 

[conceptualclarity]

Thank you for these answers. The HPA page has good info on what HPA does. How about some info on what Kaspersky does against ransomware and exploits?

 

[Deleted Member 3a5v73x]

Do NOT use HMPA alongside Kaspersky. They silently conflict and brake functionality.

HMPA should not be run alongside AVs and Internet Suites that have BB and similar modules. It can be safely run along side AV scanners and SRP.

 

[conceptualclarity]

Do NOT use HMPA alongside Kaspersky. They silently conflict and brake functionality.

HMPA should not be run alongside AVs and Internet Suites that have BB and similar modules. It can be safely run along side AV scanners and SRP.

If HitmanPro.Alert indeed conflicts with behavior blockers that is a serious shortcoming in need of remedy.

 

[JM Safe]

Personally I use Kaspersky Free, but Kaspersky paid is obviously very good for BB, good prevention also against ransomware, keyloggers, backdoors, and also it increases protection against 0 day malware. HMPA is good for exploit protection and ransomware prevention analyzing suspicious behaviours, but I would choose Kaspersky (also Kaspersky exploit protection is advanced).

 

[ForgottenSeer 72227]

If HitmanPro.Alert indeed conflicts with behavior blockers that is a serious shortcoming in need of remedy.

Well I don't think it's more of a short coming, but rather an overlapping of similar technology. As I've mentioned in my previous posts HMPA was created to work along side a basic AV or another security program/setup that did not already have the capabilities of HMPA.

As these technologies become available, some start of as a separate 3rd party program (like HMPA), but over time other companies develop the same/similar technology and instead of creating a separate program, they incorporate it into one of their other programs. This is the reason why a lot of people recommend being careful when adding more 3rd party programs to suites like KIS/KTS, as it may already have that capability built in. This can be said for all security suites, not just KIS/KTS.

Sometimes the fear and paranoia kick in, especially on security forums in general, so people tend to add too many real-time programs/extensions, thinking that they will be more secure, when in fact it may actually make it worse. IMO, it's very important to understand your program and it's capabilities first and foremost, after which you can add another program or 2 if you feel like your program is missing something, whilst ensuring it doesn't overlap the capabilities of your main program.